CANADA: 



to tot fita hi it, »d) 1% toe like it. 



BY 



MRS. EDWARD COPLESTON. 



' • •> ) y , "> 



EXPERIENTIA DOCET. 



LONDON: 
PARKER, SON, AND BOURN, WEST STRAND. 

1861. 



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la, ^5 X;6 

[>on: 



londoi"- 



PEINTED BY HUTCHINGS & COPE^ 
63, SNOW HILL. 






V 



DEDICATED, 



BY KIND PERMISSION AND WITH GRATEFUL RESPECT, 



TO HIS GRACE 



THE ARCHBISHOP OF DUBLIN. 



ADVERTISEMENT. 



These unpretending sketches of recent life in 
Canada were sent home under peculiar circum- 
stances, and accompanied by an earnest injunc- 
tion from the writer, that her name should 
not appear. 

The friend into whose hands they came, was 
unexpectedly favoured with an opportunity of 
communicating with the honoured Prelate to 
whom they are dedicated, himself the valued 
friend and editor of the "Remains" of the 
late Bishop Copleston, who was uncle to the 
husband of the Author. Having also lately 
published a volume containing an article on 
Canada, the Archbishop of Dublin was led to 



VI ADVERTISEMENT. 

take a kindly interest in this little Work, and 
to advise that it should not be published 
anonymously. 

The friend of the Writer willingly accepts 
the full responsibility of disobeying her in- 
junction, when coupled with the gratification 
of acting on a suggestion from such a quarter. 

November, 1861. 



i 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER, PAGE 

I. Introductory 1 

II. Departure from England .... 4 

III. Our Landing 7 

IV. Hunting for a Home, and Professional 

Prospects 14 

>tter in the Bush ..... 43 
VI. Housekeeper's Chapter .... 65 
VII. The Climate of Canada; its effect upon 
the European, as well as on Animal and 

Vegetable Life 78 

VIII. Farming in Canada, an Occupation whereby 

THE MOST MAY BE MADE OF A SMALL INCOME ; 

and Conclusion 93 



CANADA. 



CHAPTER L 

INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 

Descriptions of Canada are becoming as plen- 
tiful as blackberries in autumn. The aim, 
however, of the authoress of these pages is not 
to describe her adopted country's magnificent 
scenery, to enlarge upon its glorious prospects, 
or to hold Canada up to view as an El Dorado 
for the fortune hunter ; nor on the other hand, 
to picture the hardships of the pioneer in her 
backwoods, or the gaiety and freedom of life on 
her thickly-settled frontier. All this has been 
done over and over again, till at. last the Falls 
of Niagara, and the wondrous depths of the 
Saquenay are becoming as familiar to the Euro- 
pean as the waters of the Volga, or the Falls 
of Schaffhausen. Her object is to prove that 
Canada offers a home where all the conveniences 
of life may be enjoyed at far less cost than they 
can be obtained in Old England, and this, too, 

B 



2 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 

at a period when tlie circumstances of thousands 
are comparatively straitened at home. 

Canadian railways may have had their share, 
conjointly with numerous other tempting specu- 
lations, in results that have impoverished tenfold 
more families than have ever been enriched by 
them. But Canada has many redeeming features. 
Her British Constitution ensures perfect security 
to life and property. Her railways and her lakes 
and rivers; her weekly English mail, and eleven 
days' voyage, instead of eleven weeks, the mini- 
mum, perhaps, of a voyage to any other colony, 
enable her to invite all to come and try her 
climate ; her facilities for retrenchment, without 
curtailing in any degree the enjoyment of all 
the necessaries of life, or abandoning anything 
except positive luxuries. 

Other colonies may offer greater inducements 
to those in search of a speedy fortune (although 
this may be called in question). The adven- 
tures of bush life may be far more exciting 
at the Cape, its difficulties and trials incom- 
parably less, and a profitable return for exertion 
may perhaps be secured elsewhere in less time; 
but no colony equally accessible offers the same 
advantages to those who have no desire to rough 
it in the bush, on the one hand, nor yet to join 
in the gaieties and expenses of town life, on the 



INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 3 

other, but simply to keep the middle course; they 
can do this by securing any of the innumerable 
cleared farms within five or six miles of the 
railways, which now run throughout the length 
of Canada, as well as intersect its eastern, north- 
ern, and north-western districts. 

The following narrative will, it is believed, pre- 
sent the reader with a fair idea of all the incidents 
that are likely to occur to any one who enters upon 
family emigration. It will be seen that nothing 
startling nor adventurous need be expected ; but 
at the same time, much that will prove rough, 
novel, and strange, during the earlier years of 
colonial life. Should the writer have failed in 
rendering these pages of interest, she still hopes 
they may diffuse some information that may 
prove practically useful. 



B 2 



CHAPTEK II. 

DEPAKTUB^ FEOM ENGLAND. 

In the autumn of 3856 we embarked on board 
the fine noble steamer A. S., bound for Quebec. 
Painful circumstances, over which we had no 
control, had altered our fortunes at home, con- 
sequently, our thoughts were directed to emi- 
gration. Pleasing and flattering visions of a 
homestead, denied us in Merrie England, soft- 
ened the feelings of anxiety and despondency so 
natural when about parting, for many years at 
least, if not for ever, from dear relatives and 
friends, and all the early happy associations of 
by-gone days. 

After weighing the merits of each colony as they 
were introduced to us by various friends, as well as 
by authors, and conning over the latest works on 
Australia, New Zealand, and even Port Natal, we 
gave the preference to Canada, more especially on 
the ground that the average passage of a Montreal 
steamer was under eleven days, and we dreaded 
for our little ones, as well as for ourselves, the 



DEPARTURE FROM ENGLAND. 5 

length of a voyage to tlie antipodes. The latter 
seemed an irretrievable step, and I mnst say, the 
idea of return tickets, to the terms of which our 
notice had been called, was of itself very encou- 
raging and hopeful. My picture of North Ame- 
rica was principally drawn from that charmingly 
written book The Backwoods of Canada. I 
never stopped to look at the date of publication, 
but concluded all Canada was all in the wild 
woods, little knowing that what was perhaps 
then " dubbed" under the sobriquet of "Dirty 
Little York " was now the " queen city " of 
Toronto, with its population of 44,000, far sur- 
passing staid old Exeter in number of citizens, 
and vying with more modern Cheltenham in the 
display of plate glass and fashionable shops. 

But to return to our embarkation. We sailed 
from Liverpool. Our family consisting of my 
husband., self, a nurse, and two little girls, mere 
infants, and I was intensely anxious on their 
account, more especially as we were undertaking 
a sea voyage in the face of equinoctial gales, one 
of which threatened to come on even before our 
anchor was weighed in the Mersey. To our 
party must be added two dogs— a Scotch terrier 
and a black retriever — two of the finest creatures 
of their kind, to whom I could not bear to say 
'-' farewell/' however sentimental it may appear. 



6 DEPARTURE FROM ENGLAND. 

Most faithful and useful companions they after- 
wards proved. Notwithstanding the tempestu- 
ous weather we encountered — (oh, the dread 
Atlantic roll I thousands have described its gran- 
deur and borne its miseries better than I 
could), — we had a quick and favourable passage, 
thanks to the able seamanship and constant 
watchfulness of our good captain. It was mar- 
vellous to see how the skill and ingenuity of 
man could devise anything to resist the fury of 
such winds and waves as tried their utmost to 
prolong our voyage. Eight glad we were to find 
our good ship in the Straits of Belle Isle, where all 
was once more comparatively calm. Our passage 
might have been shorter but for the prudence of 
our captain, who dropped anchor in the Lower 
St. Lawrence, as the weather was foggy for 
nearly an entire day. Notwithstanding this 
delay, we anchored at Quebec within eleven days 
from the time of embarking. 

Much as I should have been delighted to land 
after our stormy passage, my little ones required 
more than all my care, and I remained on board 
until our vessel reached Montreal. 



CHAPTER III. 

OUR LANDING. 

Landing was neither so delightful, nor so easy 
a business as I anticipated. Such scrambling, 
such confusion ; all the kindly feeling which fel- 
low-passengers entertain for each other vanished 
at this moment ; our mutual sympathies, now 
all danger and sickness had passed, came to a 
sudden end ; each seemed now to be on the look 
out for No. 1, yet when each had secured his 
own, curiosity, not unmingled with interest in a 
stranger's lot, again reigned predominant. 

We happened to be amongst the very few on 
board to whom all was new and strange ; many of 
our fellow-travellers were 'returning to their own 
firesides, and I quite envied them the glad wel- 
come which awaited them from expectant friends. 
Our own loneliness struck me painfully ; but I 
was soon aroused from sad, thoughts by the 
bustle and commotion of our steerage passengers, 
numbering some 300 souls, most of them appa- 
rently having, like ourselves, all their earthly 



8 LANDING AT MONTREAL. 

belongings to see to ; not merely light port- 
manteaus and compact bags of the tourists, but 
with beds and bedding, huge chests, and even 
pianos and farming implements, all jumbled 
together, to say nothing of Durham calves, 
Dorking fowls, hedgehogs, ferrets, Leicester 
sheep, and even full grown bulls and cows, and 
I must not omit our own little Scotchy and big 
retriever — -in fact, the deck presented a quaint 
appearance, a combination of a Pickford & Co/s 
warehouse, a small menagerie, and a farm-yard. 
Not only had we to watch the contents of the 
almost inexhaustible hold, and claim our own as 
the "donkey" engine brought to light its hidden 
treasures, one after another ; but the customs'' 
officers had to be satisfied that they were bond 
fide settler's goods. Our family group looked so 
genuinely green and forlorn, I believe we could 
have passed half the ship's cargo as our own 
without any demur on their part. At length, 
we collected our goods and chattels, and soon 
made our way to the hotel that had been intro- 
duced to us while on board. 

This hotel, some three quarters of a mile 
distant (it appeared fully three miles), we reached 
in what we thought a most ludicrous manner ; 
but emigrant arrivals are so common we attracted 
little or no attention, in spite of " Scotchy " and 



LANDING AT MONTEEAL. 9 

the " retriever" following in the rear of some 
three or four cartloads of baggage, preceded by 
ourselves, in a very droll-looking vehicle, more 
like the slice off an end of an omnibus than 
anything else. We were jostled "pretty con- 
siderable/' as our driver surmised, before reach- 
ing, our quarters. The hotel was an American 
one, "conducted upon American principles/' and 
quite different, in many respects, from anything 
in England : yet all was order and arrangement. 
Our numerous articles were all carefully stored 
under lock and key. A place was found for 
everything, and we were assured we should find 
everything in place. As for ourselves, we were 
soon shewn our allotted apartments, and once 
more enjoyed the luxury of a quiet room, where 
everything did not, as during our voyage, turn 
round with us. A boon of itselt 

It was evening when we arrived, and we 
would fain have had what refreshment was re- 
quisite in our own rooms ; but, although in British 
Canada, our "John Bull "notions of a cozy meal 
to ourselves had to give way to regulations, 
which required all to meet at stated intervals at 
one general table. We accordingly obeyed the 
summons of a gong, and entered a very spacious 
room, with tables laid out for about 200 persons, 
where the dinner was already awaiting us. The 



10 LANDING AT MONTREAL. 

waiters begin at once to remind you how precious 
time is. They first adroitly thrust under you a 
chair, which obliges you to sit down nolens 
volens, then the business commences in earnest. 
Dish after dish is handed round in quick suc- 
cession till something of everything would be 
heaped on your plate, unless you astonish the ob- 
sequious waiters by a constant " No, thank you/' 
While the little folk of our party are being 
properly attended to, all have been as busy as 
possible, and the despatch was astonishing. Just 
as I began to cater for myself, nearly all the 
guests and a goodly portion of the viands had 
already vanished. This was the usual state of 
affairs with us, and the waiters could scarcely 
refrain from smiling at our dilatoriness, however 
much we might be ridiculing the expedition of 
their guests. Nevertheless, we had the solace 
of being kept in countenance by an Englishman 
who had crossed in the same steamer, had put 
up at the same house, and afterwards became 
our companion through the earliest part of our 
Canadian career. 

Our first snooze, it will be " guessed/' proved 
a sound one ; but alas ! before I was, as it 
seemed to me, half through it, I was startled out 
of my senses by a most terrific clanging, banging, 
jangling noise. "What could it mean? My first 



LANDING AT MONTEEAL. 11 

impulse was to rush to the door, thinking no- 
thing short of a fire could warrant such a com- 
motion. I soon ascertained, however, that there 
was nothing amiss. I was merely being aroused 
in a manner ordinary to an American, but ex- 
traordinary to the uninitiated. The porter, whom 
I met at the door, not only entered into the 
explanation, but also intimated that unless I 
looked sharp the second alarum would soon be 
sounded, when all were expected to appear at 
the general breakfast-table. All this may appear 
very frivolous and trite ; yet the Americans 
regard these minor details as illustrations of their 
national "go-a-headativeness" (a word daily in use 
by the American press) — a characteristic in which 
the Canadian largely participates, to which he 
may safely ascribe his present success, and upon 
which he must depend for future progress. 

The next peculiarity in our hotel that alarmed 
me not a little, was the having my bed-room bell 
invariably answered by a " man/' to whom I had 
to communicate my wants. 

On the second night after landing I was sud- 
denly seized with a severe quinzy throat-attack 
in the dead of night. The symptoms were so 
bad that there was nothing to be done but to 
alarm the hotel. Up came my male attendant 
with the utmost despatch. He quickly brought 



12 LANDING AT MONTREAL. 

the mustard poultice, and all that was needful 
for such an emergency. Fortunately these re- 
medies soon relieved me, and the disease began 
to subside ; but to my surprise, the next morning 
he re-appeared again at my bedside, full of polite 
inquiries, expressing his great concern at my 
indisposition, and his anxiety for my speedy 
convalescence. During my short sojourn, I had 
but little time to explore Montreal, which is, I 
believe, universally admitted to be the finest 
city in British North America, and ranks, I am 
told, about the tenth in America, as its popula- 
tion, including its suburbs, exceeds 100,000. 

Just fresh as I was from home, the first im- 
pressions were far from favourable. Wet weather, 
dense November fogs ; or if no fog, a dull hazy 
sky, with scarcely any sun to light up the 
narrow and half-finished streets, combined to 
render the tout ensemble anything but pleasing. 
There was an absence, too, of all bustle, and the 
dearth of gay equipages, or any vehicles, except 
unwieldy omnibuses, or rough-looking waggons, 
shed a gloomy hue, different from what I had 
been led to expect. Earely, I was told, did 
Montreal wear such a dismal aspect. During 
the bright summer and the sleighing season in 
winter it was lively, gay, and cheerful in the 
extreme. 



LANDING AT MONTKEAL. 13 

When the day for our departure arrived, the 
sun shone with great brilliancy; not a speck- 
could be seen in all the vast expanse of cloudless 
sky. Nothing is more striking to an European 
than the size of everything in America. The 
St. Lawrence and the Saquenay are not the only 
natural objects that make you think the Thames 
and the Mersey mere rivulets and trout-streams, 
but the very sky itself looks so high, that you 
have nothing to do but glance upwards to per- 
ceive you are no longer in the Old World. When 
the traveller leaves Montreal, and gets clear of 
the streets and suburbs, and looks back upon 
the magnificent panorama, then he begins to 
realize what a city of wealth he has visited, 
and with what a beautiful and fertile country 
it is encircled. I longed to be a tourist, on a 
visit of choice and pleasure, and not an emigrant 
in search of a home in a new and very strange 
land, 



* 



CHAPTER IV. 

cc HUNTING FOR A HOME/' AND PROFESSIONAL 
PROSPECTS* 

Guided by the too prevalent notion that all 
an immigrant in Canada has to do, is to hurry 
on to the west as fast as possible, we followed in 
the wake of most of our fellow-passengers, who 
had not loitered on their way. Experience has 
taught us that Quebec is, no doubt, too far east. 
But the district of Montreal, and the country 
known as the Eastern Townships, are no longer so 
readily overlooked. The prevalence of the French 
language, the severity of the climate, and the 
like, are objections greatly exaggerated. 

After four years' close observation, we have 
ascertained that the condition of many English 
residents in Canada East, will compare favour- 
ably with that of many, who, ai great expense 
and inconvenience, migrated thousands of miles, 
and penetrated the Western States of Iowa and 
Illinois, for instance, and left behind them all the 
advantages of excellent markets, of ready com- 
munication by railway and steamboat, and have 



HUNTING FOR A HOME. 15 

Secured little else as compensation, than perhaps 
ten days earlier spring, and the same interval in 
autumn, before winter positively sets in. 

Many of our fellow-passengers had left us their 
addresses, with hearty assurances of welcome, if 
we would pay their districts a visit. There was 
nothing now, it was said, like "roughing it in 
the bush/' and the "back woods of Canada" 
were already a myth of the past, to be found 
only some one hundred miles north of the St. 
Lawrence. We therefore bade adieu to Mon- 
treal ; were again jostled "pretty considerable" 
in an omnibus to the " cars " for Lachine. " All 
aboard ! all board ! " is the universal cry, whether 
you are stepping into a steamer, omnibus, or 
railway. The latter word being seldom used, 
and the shorter word "cars" substituted, bv all 
the officials with whom a traveller has to deal. 

The next stage on our journey was Kingston, 
some 160 miles distant ; and we selected a 
steamer as by far the most convenient for a 
family party, encumbered with the amount of 
luggage we possessed. The steamer having to 
work its way slowly through the canals con- 
structed by the side of the St. Lawrence, where 
navigation is impeded on the upward trip against 
the stream by the rapids, but greatly accelerated 
on the downward course by what is termed, 



16 HUNTING FOR A HOME. 

" shooting the rapids/' The sensations of the 
passenger, while his steamer is "shooting the 
rapids/' are said to be so exciting and enchanting 
that the numerous guide-books for the tourist 
are all puzzled to describe them, so one and all, 
after having attempted to do so, wind off with 
the assertion that they can neither be imagined 
or described. The effect must be tried by a trip 
taken for the express purpose. 

We reached Lachine, after a rapid railway ride 
through a flat country, and found the Kingston 
steamer awaiting our arrival. The contrast be- 
tween an ocean steamship and a lake and river 
steamer is peculiarly striking. The latter is 
built expressly for passenger accommodation, 
without reference to model or naval architecture, 
and perhaps it would be better if the latter were 
a little more consulted, as the storms on Lake 
Ontario are by no means contemptible. These 
vessels, at first sight, seem little better than 
huge, floating hotels ; but are admirably adapted 
for the miscellaneous traffic they carry on ; for 
not only are they capable of stowing away several 
hundred passengers, but hundreds of all kinds 
of live stock besides. These last occupy the 
lower deck, while the passengers are comfort- 
ably ensconced on the upper, and the remainder 
of the vessel has great capacity for general mer- 






HUNTING FOR A HOME. 17 



chandise. Anything better suited for family- 
travel it would be difficult to suggest ; with 
plenty of room for promenade on deck, a luxuri- 
ous drawing-room, supplied with piano, news- 
papers, and books — an excellent table d'hote, 
and capacious and separate berths (dignified with 
the name of " state-rooms "). 

Onward you glide, enjoying the lovely scenery 
of the St. Lawrence ; no time lost by day or 
night, and all this quite free from the fatigue, 
or weary monotony of railway travel ; at meals 
or asleep still onward you go, all at one fare, 
which includes living and moving expenses. 
Truly, a railway in Canada has a formidable 
competitor during the season of travel. The 
fairy scene of the Thousand Isles, the Kapids of 
the St. Lawrence, the glorious effects of sunrise 
and sunset, and the moonlight scene on the 
clear blue waters of Lake Ontario — all, indeed, 
that has any claim upon the tourist, or can serve 
to soften the sad hours of the newly-arrived 
emigrant — all is lost to those who select the 
railroad journey from Montreal to Toronto, in 
preference to the passage by steamer. The line 
of the railway, too, is calculated to convey a 
very false impression. The Grand Trunk, for 
the most part, runs about one mile inland from 
the banks of the river and shores of the lakes 

c 



18 HUNTING FOR A HOME. 

jufet skirting the backs of the first range of 
farms. It cuts through the bush each farmer 
has preserved for fuel, so that little else is visible 
from the windows of the carriages but horrible 
stumps and mangled forest trees ; while the tra- 
veller is actually passing through some of the 
best cultivated farms in the province, all that he 
can see is swampy and uncleared. The effect 
of this is peculiarly depressing upon the stranger, 
and places the dark side of the picture, without 
any opportunity of seeing the bright. It led, 
too, to a serious error, on the part of an eminent 
agriculturist and author, who formed his opinion 
from his rapid ride on the railway, and thought, 
as he saw no barns or farm-houses, there was no 
produce. Had the same author paid a visit to 
the store-houses that line the wharves of every 
port between Hamilton or Toronto, he would 
perhaps have ascertained that not only had the 
Canadian farmer something to sell, but that he 
had facilities for market scarcely equalled. 

We reached Kingston on a Sunday morning. 
Of this day, throughout Canada, there is, at all 
events, a strict outward observance. The law 
does not countenance Sabbath-breaking, and 
railways, steamboats, telegraphs, and post-offices 
are at rest. This was another contrast to our 
own country, where railway and steamboat ex- 



HUNTING FOR A HOME. 19 



encouraged as conducive to public health, and 
affording opportunities for intercourse between 
parents and long-parted children, otherwise un- 
attainable. 

Our boat happened to come in unusually late, 
and as we landed the various congregations were 
leaving their churches, and lined each side of the 
street in full Sunday attire. It was a bad time 
to arrive, and our obstreperous dogs made it 
worse. On our way from the wharf to the hotel 
they unhappily descried a pig, which, to their 
ideas of English propriety, had no business in 
the streets of an important city. The temp- 
tation to give chase was too strong to be 
resisted ; off went " Scotchy '- with the large 
"retriever" at his heels. Poor grunter, so un- 
expectedly assailed, was soon heard squealing 
lamentably. First, he stood at bay, then took 
to his heels, when the scene became so noisily 
exciting, that we began to fear the authorities 
would be after our headstrong protectors ; 
luckily, poor " Chuggy " took refuge in the 
yard of the hotel to which we were going, and 
the turmoil our dogs had occasioned soon ended. 
We were not long in discovering that pigs were 
by no means such uncommon promenaders on 
the public side-walks, even in large places like 

c 2 



20 HUNTING FOR A HOME. 

Toronto — till lately, the seat of government, and 
termed the " Queen City " — still, the nuisance of 
allowing animals to feed on the offal of the 
public streets is gradually abating. 

We took a great fancy to our Kingston hotel, 
which was truly " British American/' and not 
simply American, as the one we had just left. 
It was something to see once more an honest 
leg of mutton on the table, and whole loaves of 
bread, instead of finding everything sliced up 
ready for immediate use, suggesting the hint 
that "all we want you to do, is to eat and be 
off as fast as you can/' Here, too, we were 
joined by our English fellow- voyageur ; and in 
the evening we heard, for the first time in this 
new land, our own Church service, in an English 
church. 

Next morning we started betimes for Toronto, 
and were all aboard in due season. Our English 
acquaintance, who had come out to establish 
himself as a medical practitioner, soon had his 
surgical skill brought into requisition, and his 
first patient was, singularly enough, one of the 
aborigines. It may be remembered, that, a few 
years ago, application was made to the Lord 
Mayor, on behalf of a party of Indians, from 
the Rocky Mountains, whose forlorn condition 
on the streets of London attracted the notice 






HUNTING FOR A HOME. 21 



of some benevolent person. It transpired that 
these unfortunates had been enticed from their 
native wigwams by some speculator, to join an 
Indian exhibition. Exhibitions of this kind, 
however, had become somewhat stale before they 
reached England, or, at all events, had lost their 
attractiveness. The speculator therefore dis- 
carded his proteges, and turned them adrift 
homeless and friendless. Charitable means, and 
not the public purse, were alone available to- 
wards their restoration to their native moun- 
tains, and some generous hearted individuals 
paid their fare to Quebec. From Quebec they 
were sent on at the public expense, and so, from 
place to place, until they would arrive within a 
reasonable distance of their hunting grounds. 
Their trip to London had apparently the reverse 
of any good effect ; for, as passengers on our 
steamer, a more senseless, besotted-looking party 
could scarcely be imagined ; whisky and rum 
had done its work. 

One of this party, a poor squaw, my husband 
found lying on the lower deck, in a frightful 
condition from loss of blood — the chief and his 
sons, all looked thoroughly intoxicated, were 
standing by her side totally unconcerned — and 
the natives of her own sex had certainly no 
ideas of nursing, and very little of anything like 



22 HUNTING FOR A HOME. 

sympathy. We soon got our medical friend to 
come to her aid. It appeared that during a 
drunken quarrel his patient had been stabbed 
by another squaw, that the wounds had been 
inflicted for several hours, and for want of some 
person to staunch the blood, life was fast ebbing, 
and would have been lost without any alarm 
being given by the bystanders. In this instance 
the poor creature recovered, and regarded her pre- 
server as something between a magician and a 
doctor — an opinion in which her companions 
fully shared ; for magic is always an essential 
element in the Indian doctor's skill. Not only 
do the "Indians" believe this, but the "white 
men w shew they are scarcely more proof against 
superstitious feelings than the Ojibbeways or 
Chippewas — an Indian herb, or quack doctor- 
being one of the most successful callings which 
any impostor can follow. We were just entering 
Lake Ontario when the excitement occasioned 
by this incident had subsided. 

This was my last opportunity of witnessing 
the gorgeous and magnificent scenery of the 
St. Lawrence. I was in perfect ecstasy with its 
beauty and loveliness. The water so pure and 
limpid, reflecting the red and yellow autumnal 
tints from the forest, which clothed the banks to 
the water's edge, as well as the still more varied 



HUNTING FOK A HOME. 23 

hues from the great variety of shrubs growing 
on the numerous islands. Some of these islands 
were such complete little territories, that they 
made me almost fancy I could settle down very 
happily on any of them ; others were much 
smaller, in groups or clusters. Here we caught 
a glimpse of some Indians, and watched their 
tiny birch-bark canoes gracefully riding on the 
rippling waters, and ever and anon darting in 
and out from their numberless hiding places at 
the will of their occupants, chiefly squaws, with 
their copper-coloured children, some mere infants, 
swimming and sporting in the water, like so 
many tadpoles in their native element. There 
was so much to amuse, arouse, and interest in 
this portion of my journey, that it grieved me 
to think how rapidly I was accomplishing it. 
But " time and tide " wait for no man. 

Our steamer had now threaded its way through 
this fairy labyrinth of islands, and launched us 
on what I dreaded as too much like a return to 
the Atlantic ; but it was nothing more than a 
transition from the placid St. Lawrence to the 
more ruffled waters of Lake Ontario. It was 
now late, and the chill autumnal evening made 
it no longer safe to remain on deck. The greater 
portion of the passengers repaired to the draw- 
ing-room-saloon. In a short time the piano 



24 HUNTING FOR A HOME. 

struck up, and after a voluntary from two or 
three American ladies, who, it seemed to me, 
vied with each other in the display of their 
peculiar power in rendering a piano a much 
harsher and louder instrument than I ever 
thought it could be made. We had, neverthe- 
less, some pleasant solos and glees, and I must 
say I admired the vocal much more than the 
instrumental concert. There was too much to 
remind me of the horrors of the equinoctials to 
permit of unbroken rest, so I was up early, and 
was amply repaid by witnessing, what I suppose 
can scarcely be equalled for its peculiar splen- 
dour, the effect of sunrise upon the bright blue 
waters of Lake Ontario. 

In a few short hours we began to descry the 
tops of the principal buildings of Toronto. 
Toronto is perhaps, in one sense, the reverse of 
Montreal. The latter, as I have said, is seen to 
best advantage from its noble river ; but Toronto 
being built upon a level, and having no imme- 
diate background to take the place of the moun- 
tain of Montreal, is, as an American remarked 
to me, "a mean-looking place till you get into 
it, and then, I guess, you 11 think it smart 
enough" — in fact, you come upon it unawares. 
It is truly a fine city, when you become ac- 
quainted with its public buildings, avenues, and 



HUNTING FOR A HOME. 25 



I Suburbs, as well as its spacious and well laid out 
streets — in many parts shaded with the light 
foliage of the acacia and Canadian maple, afford- 
ing grateful shade from the fierce rays of our 
summer suns. 

To return from this digression to our landing. 
All the scrambling for luggage had to be re- 
peated. Hotel runners, or canvassers, were loud 
in their vociferations of "All aboard for Rus- 
sell's," "The American," M &c, and I don't 
know what else besides. We had the good 
fortune to make choice of " Swords/' at this time 
the best hotel ; the luxurious and capacious 
" Eossin House " not being completed. All was, 
of course, still very new to us, and some of the 
novelties it may be amusing to notice. 

In the public dining-room we naturally at- 
tempted to keep together, children and nurse as 
well as ourselves. This was a decided, though 
unintentional, affront to the negro waiters, who 
immediately ushered off the nurse and children 
to a side-table. Astonished at the presumption, 
we removed to the side-table also, where, to our 
surprise, an English traveller, probably as fresh 
as ourselves, immediately repaired as well. His 
object was to resent an apparently uncalled-for 
slight, whei^ the funny assemblage at a Canadian 
table d'hote is taken into consideration. Next, 



26 HUNTING FOR A HOME. 

the waiting arrangements were diverting in the 
extreme. The number of attendants (all negroes) 
were certainly greater than the number of guests. 
Some were fine, pleasant-looking fellows, in spite 
of their grim visages ; and from their winning, 
kindly manners, soon ingratiated themselves with 
our little ones, much to my surprise. But to 
describe the system adopted. Our troop of 
waiters vanished all at once, just as we were 
seated to commence dinner. Suddenly the door 
re-opened — in they marched in single file, each 
bearing a dish, while their principal assumed all 
the airs of a generalissimo. His " corps" fixed 
their dark, keen eyes upon him, awaiting his 
signal ; and as soon as that was given, down 
went the dishes on the table all at once — a 
pause — another signal — and off flew the covers, 
with similar precision and alacrity ; their black 
countenances and gloveless black hands made 
the effect all the more ridiculous, although, to 
some, not altogether pleasing. These manoeuvres 
they repeated at each course until the repast was 
over. The evenings passed off agreeably enough. 
The guests met in the public drawing-room, 
where they were entertained with music, the 
daughters of the hotel proprietor taking the 
principal part as performers. 

Arrived at Toronto, we considered ourselves 



PROFESSIONAL PROSPECTS. 27 

in the heart and centre, not only of Upper 
Canada, but of Canada, as, at this time, Toronto 
was the seat of government. Here we learnt that 
any professional occupation was by no means easy 
to obtain. Our friend, the doctor, had no diffi- 
culty in securing license to practise ; but found 
in a short time that, beyond gratuitious practice, 
little field was before him, so numerous were 
the resident medical men long and favourably 
known to the inhabitants, so that it would take 
as much time to work his way on to a living, 
as long perhaps as if he had established himself 
in London, and probably the cost of supporting 
the style he deemed requisite to secure a position 
v as fully as great, as it would have been in an 
English town. The English lawyer can only 
become qualified bj^ apprenticing himself at once 
to a Canadian lawyer for twelve months at 
least, and even then his license is not obtained 
without much expense. With capital a good 
business might be gained in a few years ; but 
without it, without interest, and with probably 
a deal of jealousy to contend against, the pro- 
spects of an English lawyer are not encouraging. 
Commercial employment is neither so easy to 
get, nor so remunerative when secured, as at 
home. The ways and habits of the country can 
only be learnt by experience, and until that has 



28 HUNTING FOR A HOME. 

been gained, it is impossible that a stranger can 
successfully compete with those born, bred, and 
educated in the colony. It was therefore evi- 
dent our " hunt for a home " must be continued, 
and that some less beaten track than a Canadian 
city must be selected. At this period rents were 
exorbitantly high, and provisions by no means 
reasonable, and the sooner we left for a rural 
village or town the better. Unhappily, we had 
been much misled on our voyage out, by descrip- 
tions of Canada's " last" and most " hopeful forest 
child/' and had been induced to pay it a visit. 

We arrived in the height of land speculation, 
or rather just when the bubbles were beginning 
to burst. Canada had raised a large family of 
children within a very few years, and of these 
" Collingwood " was said to be the most preco- 
cious, and it needs must be explored before any 
one could safely settle down. Collingwood was, 
and is, the terminus of the railway connecting 
Toronto with Lake Huron. Here all the trade 
from Chicago and the Far West was to be con- 
centrated, and it was represented a great portion 
had already been secured. It promised a famous 
opening for everybody. A bank was particularly 
wanted — of this, perhaps, there was but little 
doubt, so far as accommodation being necessary 
was concerned. 






I anxiously awaited my husband's return from 
this El Dorado, as I had induced him to explore 
it by himself, and leave me to recruit, with my 
little ones, in our comfortable hotel in Toronto. 
On his return, he informed me that the principal 
building in the place was a large wooden-framed 
hotel, perched at the very terminus of the rail- 
way, so that the trains almost ran into it. This 
he found frequented by a number of guests ; most 
of them as rough as can be conceived. It was 
here he heard the hardest swearing, and the 
most blasphemous epithets and conversation, it 
was ever his lot to have forced upon his ears. 
California in its worst days could scarcely have 
brought together greater ruffians than had taken 
up their temporary abode at Collingwood. Most 
of them had village lots to sell, at prices much 
about the same as those obtained for the best 
building sites in the heart of Montreal and 
Toronto. Some had come in search of their 
" town lots/' which they had purchased without 
inspection, except on paper ; and not a few of 
these they, literally, could not see, as they were 
positively under water — a great portion of the 
site of this embryo city being in a swamp. Still 
there were symptoms of life and business ; but 
such a life, and such a business, in the midst of 
such a set of speculators, that we never at- 



30 HUNTING FOR A HOME. 

tempted to join in it, and we were certainly the 
wiser for the visit. 

If life in the bush be rugged and hard, and 
subject to deprivations, a life in a paper town, 
we thought, must be tenfold more rugged and 
hard to endure, and nothing has transpired to 
alter our impression. The earliest stage of a 
community, such as that of an American town 
or village, is by no means inviting, and time 
alone can mould any new settlement into order 
and shape, whether it be in more remote British 
Columbia, Vancouver's Island, or Australia. The 
settler who makes choice of any very new dis- 
trict will have the same ordeal to go through. 
The hardships of climate may be nothing to the 
trials inflicted by bad neighbours ; nor are these 
trials and hardships lessened by the attempts 
we hear are being again made in England, of 
transplanting little communities with all the 
gradations of squires and peasantry, priests and 
deacons, with parish doctors, and the whole paro- 
chial system, to the banks of the Upper Ottawa. 

It was known we were " hunting for a home," 
and we were sorely pressed to join a scheme of 
this nature, and right glad I am, after a still 
further acquaintance with the subject, we kept 
aloof from a project, which, after repeated trials, 
has never yet led to anything but disappoint- 



I 



HUNTING FOR A HOME. 31 



ment and vexation. The chief promoter was 
most enthusiastic in his hobby. He had ascer- 
tained that the Canadian government would 
readily grant a free block of land, of ten square 
miles ; and if not absolutely make a free grant, 
would sell the whole for a mere nominal price 
of 2s. 6d. per acre. The whole of Canada, it 
was urged, was divided into ten square miles' 
townships. Why not make a model township ? 
The inhabitants of which should be entirely 
British in their habits, select in every way, and 
members of the Church of England. This 
sounded plausible enough in theory, but when 
reduced to practice, has invariably been most 
difficult, if not impossible to carry out. A 
clergyman, a medical man, several young esquires, 
and a good shopkeeper, had agreed to settle 
down on the block, and each had induced agri- 
cultural labourers and their families to accom- 
pany them — a capitalist to erect a saw-mill, and 
a miller to grind the produce would soon follow. 
The only conditions were, that the entire block 
of land should be taken up, that a certain pro- 
portion of every one hundred acres should be 
speedily cleared, and log-houses erected, to en- 
sure permanent occupation. Of the fate of this 
individual scheme, or whether it was ever ma- 
tured, we have not heard. 



32 HUNTING FOR A HOME. 

By far the most successful pioneers in the 
backwoods, have been men trained to their call- 
ing as lumbermen. While engaged in the forest 
winter after winter, they become familiar with 
the locality, and know the exact spots where 
settlement can be entered upon with certainty 
of success ; and they likewise understand, how^ 
ever good and fertile the soil may be, insuper- 
able barriers may exist, such as miles of " wind 
falls," as the havoc of a storm in the forest is 
termed, or of a swamp through which a road 
could not be made without difficulties too great 
for an individual to encounter, or overcome in a 
lifetime. Instances there are where settlements 
in large bodies by fellow-countrymen, with little 
distinction of high or low degree, have prospered. 
The county of Glengarry may be noticed as the 
principal. 

It must be remembered how close is the tie 
of clanship in Scotland ; while there is no similar 
bond of union amongst the English population. 
This, perhaps, is one reason why the Scotch 
settler, independently of his hardy and thrifty 
habits, and his acquaintance with a severe climate 
from his youth upwards, has so rarely failed as 
a Canadian settler. 

While at Collingwood, information was gleaned 
that " Orillia/' on the shores of Lake Simcoe was 



HUNTING FOB A HOME. 33 

as eligible as any place that could be suggested 
for us to winter in, as there were a great many 
resident English families, and rents would be 
found moderate ; besides the simile drawn be- 
tween it and Brighton attracted my fancy — it 
held the same relation to Toronto, so said my 
new acquaintances, as did my favourite watering 
place to London. 

We resolved to give it a trial and trusted it 
would afford us a snug little home, easily reached 
before winter set in ; so we left the comforts of 
Toronto, and started by the northern railway for 
Belle Ewart, the station from which the steamer 
sailed daily, so we were told, for Orillia. The 
cognomen of " Belle Ewart " somewhat inspired 
confidence. We thought we must be nearing 
something to excite admiration, but on arrival 
our first exclamation was — a What a name to 
give to a few wooden shanties huddled together, 
and surrounded by charred stumps with a 
Yankee saw-mill, the mainstay of its trade ! " 
We were already fast getting into November; 
not a green leaf, nor the slightest verdure re- 
mained, and all the beauty of Belle Ewart 
had withered and faded, not to be revived till 
May or June came round again. We no sooner 
left the cars and saw them pnffing away, than 
we inquired of the first person we met the way 

D 



34 HUNTING FOR A HOME. 

to the steam-wharf, and if the steamer was in 
readiness for starting for Orillia ? "I guess 
you're out in your reckoning ; there will be no 
steamer till Monday/' was the answer, and it 
was then Saturday ; so the " guess/' alas ! proved 
the more unfortunate and provoking. But it 
was too true. The steamer had altered the time 
of its trips and ran only on alternate days. 

Here was a dilemma. Here were we, with all 
our baggage piled upon stumps, and ourselves 
exposed to a Canadian rain — such raiii as I 
had never seen ; a perfect water spout, which 
drenches you through and through in a very 
short space of time. Charming Belle Ewart 
could boast of no suitable inn, and nothing but 
a tavern of the lowest class ; the hope, how- 
ever, of finding two good hotels at Lefroy if we 
walked back, a distance of a mile, kept up our 
flagging spirits. We buckled to and began our 
uncomfortable trudge ; but, oh ! horror of horrors, 
when we came to the end of our pilgrim- 
age through mud and mire, there was not a 
pin's difference to choose between the taverns of 
either place, and no possibility of a return to 
Toronto. There was nothing for it but to make 
the best of our situation. The miserable, squalid 
taverns, were each dignified with the name of 
" hotel," but they had only the roughest accom- 



HUNTING FOR A HOME. 35 

modation to offer. A house kept by an English- 
man was the one we preferred. His long resi- 
dence in this isolated district had not quite beat 
out of him all ideas of civility or courtesy to 
newly-arrived strangers. He intended to be 
most hospitable, but a new obstacle arose. As 
we entered his threshold we were met by a very 
stern-looking dame, who convinced us she was 
not only his wife, but his " boss " (the slang term 
commonly in use for master, or mistress, as the 
case may be). It seemed very doubtful whether 
we should be admitted, but after some parley we 
were shewn into a cheerless room, into which as 
yet the stove had not been " fixed;" and here 
we were, children and all, wet, soaking, and half- 
drowned, without either a chance of a fire or of 
drying ourselves or our garments. I thought 
quite affectionately of " Swords" and the troop 
of "darkies" we had just left. 

Our troubles were not to end here. Fatigue 
and anxiety, combined with the cold shower- 
bath in which we had all participated during the 
day, precluded rest ; and at midnight I had all 
the symptoms of ague and intermittent fever. 
As the nearest doctor lived twelve miles off, the 
landlord with much sympathy undertook my 
cure; and as I was too ill to turn restive, I 
swallowed his prescribed nostrums. His " E 

D 2 



36 HUNTING FOR A HOME. 

R R," which interpreted, signifies "Radway's 
Ready Relief/' was the vilest and most pungent 
decoction of the hottest capsicums it had ever 
been my lot to taste. Nevertheless, I am bound 
to say this quack remedy, though severe, was 
not without its good results; such a glow and 
warmth as it diffused I shall not easily forget, — 
it must have assisted in dispelling my chill ; and, 
thanks to this all-stimulating, powerful agent, I 
was enabled to pursue our journey on the Mon- 
day. It was a real blessing to be once more on 
the move. The day, too, was propitious. We 
took care to reach the steamer in good time, and 
embarked with a hearty farewell to Belle Ewart, 
Lefroy, and its rival hotels. 

Once more afloat, we could scarcely fail to ad- 
mire the superior build and size of our vessel ; 
it was superbly fitted up with costly velvet fur- 
niture, the wood work supplied from the best 
specimens of the Canadian forest timber, highly- 
polished and beautifully carved. "We naturally 
asked how such a large boat could be brought to 
Lake Simcoe, which, according to the map, had 
no outlet of sufficient size to float anything 
much bigger than an Indian canoe. We were 
astonished to hear it was built at Belle Ewart,, 
the wretched, miserable, little forest village I 
was so glad to leave and had so often ridiculed. 



HUNTING FOR A HOME. 37 

Truly it was a lesson to me not to judge always 
from outward appearances. 

Lake Simcoe is a beautiful sheet of water, by 
many considered the most so of all the Canadian 
lakes. There were some good homesteads and 
well-cultivated farms close to the water's edge, 
and the advantages derived from railway con- 
nection with Toronto must be great. Before the 
railway was made, it was a common thing in 
winter to drive the entire length of the lake on 
the ice — some thirty miles, I believe ; and a 
dreary drive it must have been from the Narrows 
to the landing, for it took us nearly eight hours 
to reach Orillia (stoppages included), which is 
situated within what is termed the Narrows, 
connecting Lake Simcoe with Lake Gouchiching ; 
but in common parlance, Lake Simcoe is the 
term used when speaking of the entire sheet 
of water between Belle Ewart and the River 
< Severn, which unites it with the Georgian Bay, 
a part of the vast inland sea of Lake Huron. 

It was nearly dusk before our steamer was 
moored to the Orillia wharf, and before we landed 
at our much wished-for haven of rest. The very 
first glimpse satisfied me ; that the resemblance 
to Brighton was fallacious and unmeaning none 
could gainsay. The hotel proprietor was at once 
on board and on the look out for passeDgers, 



38 HUNTING FOR A HOME. 

and not a little well-pleased at the arrival of 
strangers, as Orillia's fashionable season was over 
if it had ever existed. He at once introduced 
himself, and I and the children were handed over 
to his mercy. He prided himself upon being an 
Englishman, and upon thoroughly understanding 
what an absence of English comfort we must 
have been subjected to during our sojourn at 
Lefroy. There was nothing, however, that he 
could not supply ; so recently from the " old 
country M himself, he well knew how to make 
his house pleasant and agreeable in the true 
sense of the word. All this was delivered 
with such distasteful and vulgar bombast, 
that I took a dislike to my host at first offset, 
and further acquaintance only increased the 
weight of my first impressions. He took me to 
what he termed his carriage. It was nothing 
more or less than a common Canadian waggon, 
into which from its height I could not see the 
possibility of climbing. After the children had 
been hoisted into it, I once more renewed my 
exertions to scramble in after them ; but the 
ridiculous cut of the whole concern, and a sense 
of my own exceeding awkwardness so excited 
my risibility, that at last I could do nothing but 
laugh. I could not help it. I laughed immode- 
rately, until seeing the owner a little chagrined. 



HUNTING FOR A HOME. 39 

if not positively in a passion, I mustered all the 
strength I could, and finally tumbled into his 
vehicle. We had ropes for part of the harness, 
and the most crazy, lean-looking horses for a 
" span " I ever saw. They understood the smack 
of the whip, and the teamster's " Gee-a-lang " 
which the Canadian utters with so shrill a nasal 
twang, that any decently-fed horses would run 
away from sheer fright at the sound. However, 
they soon brought us to the portico of the crack 
English hotel. 

Recollections of fashionable, gay Brighton again 
flashed across me, as I thought of the description 
given me of Orillia. I do not mean to say I 
was foolish enough to expect anything similar; 
but the notion of there being any room to draw 
a comparison between the two places still con- 
tinued to tickle my fancy not a little. I believe 
such compariosns are made in all honest sim- 
plicity, for all Canadians proper have a great 
idea of themselves, and of all belonging to them, 
and think all they possess, as well as all they do, 
is inferior to nothing to be met with at home. 
" Where ignorance is bliss 'tis folly to be wise/' 
is an old saw; but applicable in their case. 
Orillia in itself is a pretty little retired village, 
with some good frame-houses, and a few small 
stores. My expectations of comfort were not 



M HUNTING FOR A HOM* 






igh, wlien I saw the framr-house, in parti- 
cular, which we wen bo occupy. 

A county el was going on, and >tel 

I filled with a ii 'range-look 

vis: .ii.l we had to daily with 

people who appealed to think tl of J 

womankind do i upon then 

ways, I waa, unluckily, deaf— i 

result of ly half lie 

I • EL EL B nd thus not a holly 
conscious of the frequent invitations I d 

to drink < liampagn which waa da: plied 

in profu^i 

- Of the < 'anadian Leg] 

iiH'il. tome infloei 

le, which 
was tin- absence of all deooram, I quite dree 
fitting a! meals with men too im 1 to 

sagreeiiMy tl 
\\ ip cur mind I hie 

most uu].l in economical m 

Of lift BVi D ally as on 

to ohaige or with 

a firat-olai r, and y. I hi king to 
kling him 

had heard of as 

so cheap and ad which we l.\ the 

and t i. 



iiuntlm; for a home. 41 

was nothing in the villa.. Iy to receive us. 

It was too late in the season to Bet to work 

furnishi ren had we thought it wise or pru- 

I to do • knowing something of our 

er much altation as to where 

we sliuuM di- urselves, we heard of i quiet 

bide tavern, on the way to a place called 

►me nine miles distant, kept by 

a homely, n ble Scotch couple, [n this 

ible log-shanl olved to winter. The 

I 'ring; bul \\< i were 

furthei 
iking most unmistakal»ly of its appmarli ; 
q in the drive to our new abode the snow 
falling heavily. And I shall never foi 
my fir ■ rduroy road 

W( Jit of everything but the 

iept now and then Borne poor little 
shanties, at intervals of every mile or bo, peer- 
through some trees, and giving some >i_ 
t faint, of the country being inhabited 
At Length we arrived at our destined home. 
Hitherto I had no! been to inspect, and I felt, 
I mihi confess, very much aghast when I saw it. 
It had to me tl)» i appearance of a mud-hut ; but 
it was a fair specimen of a log-house, or shanty, 
?h-cast, and all the interstices between each 
log wellfilled with mortar. These kind of houses 



42 HUNTING FOR A HOME. 

are always warmer than the more comely-looking 
frame-buildings. We alighted from our waggon 
with anything but light hearts. Our hostess 
without shoes or stockings, and with night-cap 
on her head at mid-day, greeted us arms a-kimbo, 
welcomed us to her dwelling in broad Scotch, 
and shewed us our rooms, in which, she had 
taken the kindly precaution of having good fires. 
The interior of the house was altogether far 
more comfortable than the exterior warranted 
us to expect. The main inconvenience not quite 
agreeable, was the difficulty in getting at our 
sleeping apartments, without having to pass 
through those of our host and hostess — an evil ! 
undoubtedly ; but easily overlooked when the 
greater essentials of quiet, cleanliness, and eco- 
nomy had, as we hoped been secured. 



CHAPTER V. 

WINTER IN THE BUSH. 

Not many days after we had become settled, to 
my unbounded joy, our first precious batch of 
home letters reached us. I was, in truth, home 
sick. "As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is 
good news from a far country/' say the Proverbs 
of Solomon. We may believe this anywhere ; 
but to realise its force and truth, we must be 
removed thousands of miles from many very 
dear. The contrast between the past and the 
present seemed too great to be endured without 
home sympathy, though I could scarcely bear to 
read so much that was warm and affectionate, 
so vividly did it recall all those from whom I 
was now far away. But hope even then sug- 
gested brighter days to come. 

The earth was now covered with its white 
mantle of snow, although we had only reached 
the fifth of November. I had made several inef- 
fectual attempts to take exploring walks, with the 
children for my companions, but these I was now 



44 WINTER IN THE BUSH. 

obliged to discontinue, and to wait for my chance 
of a sleigh drive — than which, nothing charmed 
me more. Our landlady proved very obliging, 
and under her auspices we generally secured two 
or three of these delightful drives in the course 
of every week. The motion of the sleigh is so 
easy, and yet so exhilarating, that it cannot fail 
to put the most hypochondriacal person in the 
world in the wildest spirits. Such, at least, was 
its effects upon me at that time. The merry 
jingling of the sleigh-bells added considerably to 
the children's enjoyment, as well as my own ; 
and then, such a white world as we looked upon ! 
In every direction, every limb and branch of the 
noble forest trees were feathered with the newly- 
fallen snow at one time, and at another, covered 
with sparkling icicles, glistening like so many 
diamonds in the sun. Without these sleighing 
excursions the monotony would have been very 
depressing. 

The chief signs of animal life in these deep 
woods we perceived in the dead of night, when 
the howling of wolves frequently aroused us from 
sleep ; the settlers, however, never suffered from 
their depredations, as sheep and cattle are care- 
fully housed. The wolves instinctively shun the 
lowliest shanty, and the slightest fire serves to 
keep them at a respectful distance. Deer was 



WINTER IN THE BUSH. 45 

said to be plentiful, and a market is readily 
found for them, and they are not unfrequently 
sent to New York. Bears, of course, are never 
visible in winter and but rarely in summer ; but 
if Bruin has once tasted a field of sweet Indian 
corn she immediately takes up her lodgings hard 
by, and with her cubs will, if permitted, feast 
there the whole summer. The fox, red and grey, 
racooh, and the minx — squirrels, black, grey, and 
red, with now and then such rare intruders as 
the North American panther or lynx, were all 
eagerly sought for by the " trappers/' who occa- 
sionally made our tavern their rendezvous. 

Our long winter evenings were occasionally 
enlivened by anecdotes. Our landlady amused 
us by a relation of numerous events that had 
befallen her and her spouse, during the earlier 
years of their life as Canadian emigrants. They 
landed in Canada about thirty years ago, at a 
period when the hardships of an emigrant's life 
from want of roads, railroads, mills, and post- 
offices, and last, though not least, churches and 
schools, were tenfold greater than in the present 
day. At that time there was not an inhabitant 
along the nine miles which intervened between 
their lot and the lake shore, and scarcely a house 
where the village of Orillia now stands. Our 
good matron must then have been a fine speci- 



46 WINTER IN THE BUSH, 

men of a buxom, bonnie, Scotch lassie. To all 
appearances she had weathered her rough begin- 
ning uncommonly well, being in good, vigorous 
health, and now enjoying all that this fertile 
country can produce, exclusively of her home- 
stead, which she valued at a no less sum than a 
round thousand pounds ; she had laid by hard 
cash, and was regarded as a " banker's wife " in 
the woods, always having the needful to lend to 
her more straitened neighbours whose thrift had 
not been equal to her own. 

But to revert to her first arrival. As I before 
said, there were no conveyances of any kind ; 
she had to carry on her back her provisions and 
every article of furniture and clothing from the 
lake shore to her husband, who was too busy to 
render much help while he was u raising " the 
identical shanty in which we were now housed. 
In one of her expeditions through the forest, as 
she was preparing to make a fresh start, after 
having had her dinner under the shady bank of 
a rivulet, for the first time in her life a bear 
crossed her path ; he had been evidently quench- 
ing his thirst at the same stream, and was at- 
tracted by his keen scent to the " victual " she 
had left behind her. He coolly confronted her. 
All her courage nearly forsook her and she 
trembled in every limb : her last moment she 



WINTER IN THE BUSH. 47 

felt sure was come, but providentially she yet 
retained more nerve and presence of mind than 
she imagined. She remembered having heard 
that the force of the human eye alone invariably 
proved effectual, so she fixed a firm and steady 
gaze upon Bruin, determined to stare him out of 
countenance. There they stood with their eyes 
fastened on each other for several minutes — it 
seemed to her " hours/' till the animal seeing 
she neither quailed nor wavered in her purpose, 
having given a few indignant sniffs, walked ma- 
jestically away and hid himself in the woods. 
All this while she had no other weapon than a 
woman's arm ; in her case, under ordinary cir- 
cumstances, by no means a weak one. As may 
be easily conceived, she did not loiter on her 
road after this adventure but hastened on, yet 
not liking to leave the scene of her triumph 
without one more look, she dared to turn 
round, when lo ! she espied her old foe quietly 
engaged in picking up the refuse of her meal. 

Another incident she used to relate with pecu- 
liar gusto. It seemed a sister had joined her in 
her new home, — probably as comely as herself. 
It was too much for the Indians, with whom 
they were on friendly terms, to allow their white 
neighbour to have, as they thought, two such 
charming wives, and they came to the conclusion 



48 WINTER IN THE BUSH. 

that one was enough. A chief who had become 
enamoured of their good looks, arrived one even- 
ing with a few of his tribe for the express pur- 
pose of trading, or exchanging a " squaw " for 
one of the white ladies. As he intended to deal 
fairly he thought his offer quite reasonable, and 
implied that it would be & direct act of inhospi- 
tality not to comply. Their wigwam was not 
far off, and our hostess was preferred and selected 
as one of its future inmates. The poor sisters 
were upstairs while the Indians were making 
this proposal to the husband below. The latter, 
although a canny Scotchman and generally a 
good hand at a bargain, was fairly "nonplussed/' 
His only remedy was a " treat of whisky/' Thus 
they were soon overcome, and complete stupe- 
faction having ensued, he drove them off in a 
waggon to a considerable distance. He then had 
to make public what I have detailed, and thus 
gained the assistance of his white neighbours. 
By judicious interpretation it was explained the 
" trade w could not be made ; and the gude man, 
his wife, and her fair sister, were never again 
molested. 

In a little while we gradually became objects of 
great curiosity. No doubt many a traveller on 
the Coldwater Koad stopped to have a look at 
the new English folk, and to give the English- 



WINTER IN THE BUSH. 49 

man a "treat/' much to the increase of the 
"day's takings" at the bar. The door of our 
sitting-room was often opened, without even the 
courtesy of a knock, and a head masculine popped 
in, giving a very decided jerk by way of invitation, 
with the address, "Come along, now/' intimating 
that a "treat" was in store for my good man, 
and that if he wished to gain friends in Canada 
he must not refuse. It requires some exercise 
of good judgment to decline without giving 
offence. This habit of whisky treating is far 
too prevalent, not only in the backwoods, but 
throughout the province, East and West, My 
husband often walked to Orillia, and was sure of 
a friendly lift home ; but it was very rarely, in- 
deed, that he was not asked to drive while the 
owner of the sleigh slept off the effects of the 
numerous "treats" he had indulged in during 
the day. 

An amusing incident of this nature once hap- 
pened to him, which I will endeavour to narrate. 
Business had called him to Toronto, and I was 
left with my children alone for the first time in 
this country. On his journey home, the road 
being very bad and the stage heavily laden, the 
driver asked a farmer to relieve him of some of 
his passengers, to which he readily assented. 
Both stage and farmer stopped at every tavern, 

E 



50 WINTER IN THE BUSH. 

and as the distance from Barrie was thirty miles, 
and there was a tavern, at an average, to every 
three miles of road, the stoppages must have 
been constant. This farmer's home was at no 
great distance from the spot where we were 
domiciled, and it was arranged that my husband 
should come home in the farmer's sleigh, and 
avoid the delay of going through Orillia. 

At the " corners ** (the name given here to all 
cross waj^s where two roads meet), where the 
stage and the sleigh were to part from each 
other, were two taverns. Already elated by 
such frequent tippling, our friendly neighbour 
had become somewhat inflammatory, and must 
needs readily join in a dispute between the High- 
lander and Lowlander customers, which had con- 
gregated at these corners, in the heart of a Scotch 
settlement. While hoping this dispute would 
soon blow over, my husband was accosted by a 
bright-eyed little fellow, in evident distress — 
" Oh, sir ! Father is going to fight ! Do you get 
into his sleigh and drive off the team, and he 
will come out and leave the Gaelic row/' Readily 
acting upon this suggestion, especially as the 
Orillia stage now was a good way a-head on its 
road homeward, and could not have been easily 
overtaken on foot, he took the reins and drove 
off. Out rushed my farmer ; for the moment he 



WINTER IN THE BUSH. 51 

looked as if was going to fight my husband, 
instead of his former antagonist. No sooner, 
however, did he reach the sleigh than the horses 
were driven off at a brisk pace, and down he 
went into the bottom amongst the straw, and 
soon fell into a profound slumber. 

The little boy exclaimed — " All right ! go-a- 
head, sir;" and away they started, the horses 
alone knowing their road home. " Cherry and 
Captain know the way, if I don't/' continued 
the boy ; " and you and I and the ram (for I 
forgot to mention that a newly-imported prize- 
ram formed one of the party) can let father 
alone/' 

"Well/' rejoined my husband (who did not 
approve of this state of things), " father said he 
would have to go a couple of miles or so out of 
his way to see me home." 

" Aye, aye ! so he did ; but it is very dark, 
and we shall go astray if we meddle with the 
horses. Just you keep the ' runners' off the 
stumps, and we shall get home safe and sound. 
Mother will see to you when we get there." 

After a long tedious drive through the dark 
bush, they arrived, as the lad had predicted, 
without any mischance or incident. On the 
horses stopping at the farmer's gate, he awoke, 
with just sense enough to explain to his wife, 

E 2 



52 WINTER IN THE BUSH. 

he had got "the new English gentleman" with 
him. 

The good woman, well used to the somni- 
ferous condition of her mate, got him at once 
transferred from his sleigh to his bed. A blazing 
fire, such as those only know how to appreciate, 
who have been for hours exposed to a Canadian 
frost, was soon got up ; huge maple logs piled 
on the spacious hearth of the country farm-house, 
into which the more modern stoves had not 
yet found their way, soon create a warmth, 
and brighten up the most cheerless of homes. 
All was hearty hospitality and genuine welcome. 
The host quite recovered after a good supply 
ot strong green tea, and the evening sped around 
the tire with plenty of anecdote and bush gossip 
to amuse. Time for bed was drawing near. The 
" English stranger " had for some time been won- 
dering where he was to sleep. Broad hints had 
been given that an. early retirement would be 
convenient, and he was ushered into a goodly 
chamber adjoining the kitchen, which was, in 
fact, the only bed-room, in the house. A hole 
in the wall let in no small quantity of snow, 
directly upon the pillow of the bed. This was 
not exactly conducive to sleep. In a little while 
a whisper was heard — "Yes, he is asleep/' In 
quietly crept some half-a-dozen boys, with buf- 



WINTER IN THE BUSH. 53 

falo-skins and blankets, and lastly, an old man, 
and all huddled together in a corner of the room. 
Still there were many left around the blazing 
fire, and some of them damsels of mature age ; 
and what became of them, and where they slept, 
except in the kitchen along with the old couple, 
never transpired. 

At break of day, the old man and the boys 
left their lair, and the " English stranger " found 
himself alone, with abundance of fresh water and 
towelling provided for his toilet, requisites often 
omitted at hotels, where bed and bedding are 
paid for. After a substantial breakfast, at which 
all the farm luxuries — as Johnny cake, Indian 
corn pancakes, buckwheat ditto, several sorts of 
jam, cheese, and " apple sauce " — were produced 
in liberal profusion, besides fresh eggs, and rashers 
from what lately was the best "hog" on the 
farm. 

" Cherry " and " Captain " again appeared — a 
smart little team they were, looking as fresh as 
if they had been at rest for a week, although 
their yesterday's journey had extended at least 
sixty miles, to and fro. The short drive to Lot 
No. 12 was performed merrily ; but on arrival 
nothing could induce this friendly farmer to 
alight ; whether aching recollections of too many 
treats yesterday made him afraid of taking any 



54 WINTER IN THE BUSH. 

to day, I know not, but off lie drove, without af- 
fording the opportunity of tendering even thanks. 

The reader will perceive we must have gained 
some little insight in the mode of living among 
the rougher grade of settlers, during our stay in 
the bush. Ere long, we had the pleasure of 
forming the acquaintance of persons more con- 
genial than those amongst whom we had as yet 
been thrown. 

Christmas-day was near at hand. At this 
season we were taken most friendly notice of by 
the resident gentry of the neighbourhood. This 
was an act of spontaneous kindness ; for a glance 
at our abode must have shewn them we could 
make no return whatever, to mark our sense of 
their hospitality. It may cause surprise that 
any gentry could be found in so remote a region. 
But the first settlers in this district were many 
of them owners of large tracts of land, on which, 
as military and naval officers, they had cast their 
lot for life. A great many had left their pro- 
perties in despair and disgust at the numerous 
hardships and privations they with their families 
had to endure. Those who remained on were now 
owners of substantial homes, with every comfort 
about them. The worst had evidently passed. 
We spent Christmas-day with an English family, 
one of the earliest class of settlers. They lived, 



WINTER IN THE BUSH. 55 

if possible, more in the depths of the woods than 
ourselves, for there was a drive of two, if not of 
three miles through the forest, in its primitive 
condition (the land all belonging to this family), 
without a house or clearance to be seen until 
you reached their own door. Notwithstanding 
their seclusion from the world "and scenes of 
busy strife/' they yet strictly adhered to the 
good old English customs — such as the observ- 
ance of Christmas ; I need scarcely remark, that 
New yearVday has been in a great measure sub- 
stituted, wherever the Canadians are of Scotch 
origin ; and the observance of Christmas is al- 
most exclusively confined to the English and 
their descendants, and the Eoman Catholic Irish. 
Christmas-day commenced with a charming little 
sleigh-drive — to me, always fraught with pleasure. 
Off we set at a brisk pace, well muffled in good 
buffalo-robes, which are usually well lined and 
gaily fringed, not a breath of the intensely cold, 
biting wind ever reached me, in driving through 
the bush (where the cold is always easier to bear 
than in the open clearance). 

On reaching Orillia Church how pleasing it 
Was to find it all decorated as at home ; not, in- 
deed, with the glorious old holly, with its shining 
leaves and its bright scarlet berries, but with a 
very fair imitation, of Canadian evergreens, inter- 



56 WINTER IN THE BUSH. 

woven with the bine of some indigenous creeper, 
covered with very brilliant red berries. No 
pains had been spared to render the decorations 
as meaning and effective as possible, and the 
Scripture sentences, " Glory to God in the 
highest/' " Peace on earth/' u Good will towards 
men/' and other texts, were lettered with ever- 
green over the altar and along the walls of the 
church. So strong is the feeling of ultra-pro- 
testantism in many parts, that these harmless 
(to say the least), and to our mind cheering and 
appropriate symbols of Christmas, recalling so 
many happy associations, are considered as so 
many evidences savouring of Popery, by the 
same orthodox individuals who would raise thq 
emblems of Orangeism in defiance of the known 
wishes of their sovereign. So true is it that 
England, after all, is the freest country in the 
world. But I have diverged from my subject. 
The service of our church was reverently and 
devoutly read ; Christmas carols and chants 
were well sung. We remarked, too, the attend- 
ance of several Indians and their squaws, who 
joined in the services apparently as much im- 
pressed as any present. When the congregation 
dispersed there was the same kindly greeting, 
and merry and happy Christmas wishing, as we 
had been accustomed to hear from our near and 



WINTER IN THE BUSH. 57 

dear ones at home, the other side of the Atlantic, 
and then all repaired home to do justice to good 
Christmas fare, ourselves among the rest. Our 
kind entertainers made us remain with them 
over the night, and then another sleigh drive 
brought us to our old quarters. 

Besides the church at Orillia there were two 
others attached to the Church of England within 
five miles of us — one in each direction, east and 
west. All these were served by the same pastor, 
although they were at least ten miles apart. 
This will convey some idea of the arduous and 
laborious duties of a Canadian clergyman, when 
we take into account the nature of the roads he 
has to use, the exposure to summer heat and 
winter cold, to say nothing of distance. At these 
three churches three full services are generally 
held ; that is to say, full morning and evening 
services at Orillia, and a mid-day service at one 
of the more distant churches. To reach this 
more distant church the clergyman had to pass 
our door ; thus we became acquainted ; whatever 
the weather, and whether the roads were scarcely 
passable from snow-drift, he was never known to 
miss his day. We were somewhat amused at 
our landlady's frank admission, that the more 
canny Scotch minister, who had a station on the 
same road, always let the English pastor be his 



58 WINTER IN THE BUSH. 

pioneer ; but the Scotch congregation were not 
always sure that because he had broken a track 
their minister would follow. 

We occasionally, or some one of our party, 

accompanied Mr. to his church in the woods. 

I well recollect the only time I ventured to do 
so. There had been a furious gale and heavy 
fall of snow, many trees had blown down, and 
some lay across the road, but the snow-road was 
good. For a considerable distance after we had 
left the public road, and turned into the little 
bye way or track that led through the dense 
forest to the church, we had to force our way 
through the tangled boughs and bushes, and now 
and then "jump a log/' This "log jumping" I 
could not much relish ; in fact, when the feat 
was accomplished, I scarcely believed myself 
whole in limb and body. Our good pastor, on 
his part, seemed quite unaware that there was 
anything to disturb my serenity, and continued 
the same easy flow of agreeable conversation 
without interruption, in spite of log jumping 
and all such minor trifles ; the strong little nag, 
like his master, was quite used to his road. When 
I descried before me a huge tree over which I 
never thought we should attempt to go, — but 
what a novice was I, the little horse took it all 
in the regular course of business, just drew him- 



WINTER IN THE BUSH. 59 

self up for a jump, and over he went, leaving the 
sleigh and ourselves to follow; and over we 
went too with a tremendous jerk before I had 
time to be frightened. After a repetition of 
similar exploits we reached the church. It was 
singularly striking to see the picturesque little 
building, with its wooden turret and little spire, 
that had been consecrated to God in the midst 
of this dense forest, and to watch the congrega- 
tion collecting. I could not think from whence 
so many well-clad, happy, and contented -looking 
family groups could come ; but there they were, 
wending their way to hear the precious words of 
the Gospel. It seemed, indeed, as if hearts and 
feelings must be awakened to receive instruction 
when there were so many impediments, and so 
much difficulty to be disregarded before the de- 
sired object could be obtained. 

After church we lingered to admire the house 
and grounds, in one corner of which stood the 
little church we had just left. It was a rare 
specimen of an extensive clearance from the 
forest, having been made with some regard to 
the picturesque, and not with the single eye to 
profit. Everything was in good taste. The 
house had been constructed most substantially of 
logs — the warmest of all, when thoroughly well 
put together. This place was to be let or sold, 



60 WINTER IN THE BUSH. 

and I was horror-struck at the proposal of 
making this our future home. I could afford 
to admire the noble forest at a distance, but 
when the possibility of my being imprisoned in 
its vast depths for the remainder of my life 
was mooted, I shrank from such an ordeal. I 
always maintained that Canada must by this 
time offer a less isolated home, than this some- 
what too remote section of the country could 
place within our choice. The value put upon 
land in this back region besides appeared to us 
absurd, and the rents asked preposterous. The 
inhabitants had been led astray by prospective 
canals to connect the Georgian Bay with Lake 
Ontario, and Chicago and the Far West with 
Toronto and the St. Lawrence. Recent events, 
and the commercial collapse that had occurred 
since the date of our visit, have brought down 
the prices of land to a reasonable figure. 

All this time we entertained most anxious 
thoughts as to what we should do, and what 
occupation should be pursued to better our cir- 
cumstances. This had been the chief aim of our 
emigration. To remain inactive for awhile was 
well enough. A good deal had been learnt in 
the interval. The effects of fatigue after a weary 
travel had worn off, and we were desirous of 
being once more on the alert. When we re- 



WINTER IN THE BUSH. 61 

vealed our plans, I shall always remember the 
solemn and blank looks with which this infor- 
mation was received. Our landlady evidently 
considered me very foolish for wishing to be quit 
of her fostering wing ; and no doubt the weekly 
loss of our dollars was no trifling disappointment 
to her, but we were bent upon spending a few 
months in Toronto and seeing a little Canadian 
town-life. So, as the January thaw, fortunately 
for us, came on in due season, it materially 
assisted our flitting. 

One fine morning we summoned up courage for 
the journey before us, a thirty mile drive in an 
open sleigh in mid- winter being no slight under- 
taking ; but the horses performed their long 
run remarkably well, and we reached the Barrie 
Station with but one incident worth alluding to. 
When we were about half-way on our road we 
met sleigh after sleigh, some with two horses, 
some with one, in a long string extending, I 
really believe, fully a mile in length. We had 
to give up our share of the beaten track and turn 
into the deep snow, and there wait till they had 
all passed, Each and all of the occupants were 
cheerful and even merry, that it never occurred 
to us that the occasion had anything of solemnity 
Tin it, more especially as the long string of sleighs 
had somehow or other become broken, and as the 



62 WINTER IN THE BUSH. 

latter part was trying to catch up the former, 
many seemed to be shewing off the speed of their 
horses. At last, to my utter surprise, our team- 
ster (or coachman) turned round as the last sleigh 
passed with this exclamation : " Well, well, now, 
if that ain't a nice funeral Mistress B. has got, I 
don't know what is I" 

Up to this moment I had not the slightest con- 
ception we were meeting a funeral. I had seen 
no hearse, nor the semblance of mourning ; when 
I comprehended the real state of the case I felt 
somewhat shocked at the levity with which I 
had been regarding all that had passed. A very 
melancholy and sudden death had occurred, as 
we afterwards gathered. A settler had most 
unexpectedly become a widower and his large 
family of very young children motherless. Her 
case was quite an exemplification of the awful 
uncertainty of life. She was to all appearance 
in perfect health and spirits, and at the time 
entertaining a party of friends, when she sud- 
denly expired. The cause of death did not tran- 
spire. Such sad news are quickly telegraphed, 
as it were, from tavern to tavern, and store to 
store, by stage drivers and numerous other ways, 
that although interment generally takes place 
within three days after decease, and in summer 
time within thirty- six hours at the most, funerals 



WINTER IN THE BUSH. 63 

are always very numerously attended. In the 
present instance every settler from probably three 
adjacent townships had joined in this procession 
to manifest his respect for the deceased and sym- 
pathy for the survivors. Few are desirous of 
absenting themselves, especially if there had been 
any differences in life-time, for fear their so doing 
should be misconstrued. Not to attend a funeral 
would be proof of harbouring ill-will towards the 
family, much more than would the fact of attend- 
ance be proof of any strong friendship having 
subsisted during life-time ; but let us not dwell 
on this negative view of a Canadian interment, 
as if attendance was all but compulsory for the 
sake of decency. The custom is decidedly pleas- 
ing in the main. Roman Catholics and Orange- 
men, all can join, and each has plenty of time for 
reflection while accompanying the remains of 
those who have shared his hardships as a fellow- 
labourer, to their last resting-place on earth. We 
frequently had pointed out to us, as we passed 
near the cleared farms in the vicinity of Barrie, 
private burial grounds, neatly and securely en- 
closed from the rest of the farm ; but public 
cemeteries are now provided in all well-peopled 
districts ; and in large towns Roman Catholics, 
members of the Church of England and Scotland, 
and Methodists, have each their own peculiar 
burial-grounds. 



64 WINTER IN THE BUSH. 

We were most glad on arrival at Barrie to 
make the exchange from the sleigh to the cars ; 
the cold had been intense, and icicles had formed 
on our very eye-lashes. Both children and selves 
appreciated the warmth from the well-heated 
stoves, with which every railway carriage is sup- 
plied during winter. The station is some distance 
from the town of Barrie, and the country all around 
was very wild and uncleared. We were not a little 
struck at finding the carcase of a huge bear on the 
platform, waiting for transmission. The owner of 
this trophy was very anxious to bring it into 
the carriage, as if it were his personal baggage ; 
but this was not permitted. On nearing Toronto, 
I could not but congratulate myself that we 
had left the bush, and that we were about to 
take up our abode, however temporary, amongst 
a more social community. How spacious, as well 
as luxurious, by comparison, did every thing 
now appear at our old friend " Swords'/' to 
whose house we again repaired, till we succeeded 
in hunting out a snug little cottage. 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE HOUSEKEEPER'S CHAPTER. 

The snug little cottage we were in search of was 
not forthcoming without some trouble ; we were 
in want of so many advantages. First and fore- 
most, we deemed it essential to take a home in 
which there were open fire-places. Rooms heated 
by stoves were, to me, most suffocating and 
stifling, and, I imagined, must be injurious. I 
could not understand how people could exist in 
them — a doubt long since solved ; for without 
them, I do not believe any human being could 
withstand the severity of this climate. They 
equalize the temperature of a room, so that every 
bit of you feels warm, which cannot be said in 
favour of open grates, however cheerful a blaze 
may be — your face is apt to be scorched while your 
back is shivering. Next, we were on the look-out 
for an airy situation, ample space both within and 
without, a nice garden for children to play in, and 
other wants too many to enumerate. We were 
obliged to moderate our desires, as such requisites 

F 



66 the housekeeper's chapter. 

were entirely beyond our reach ; and we thought 
ourselves exceedingly fortunate in finding, at last, 
a semi-detached frame-cottage, nicely finished 
with green Venetian shutters, and small verandah 
(there are almost always embellishments of this 
kind to houses in this country, and greatly it 
improves their appearance). There were seven 
very small, but conveniently arranged rooms, a 
court-yard at the back, with a pump of excellent 
water, in lieu of the much wished for garden. 
Our premises were somewhat cramped ; but still, 
as the situation was good in every other respect, 
and within easy access to such shops as we 
chiefly required, we were contented. 

For those who are contemplating a trip to 
our colony, and who may chance to see these 
pages, it may be interesting to know what the 
rental of such a cottage in the principal town of 
Canada may amount to. We paid i?45 currency 
a-year, or £38 sterling. We considered it high, 
and the better class of houses were still higher. 
I believe the rents at the present date are consider- 
ably lowered, and expenses of living more within 
small incomes, since the government has removed 
to Quebec, preparatory to its final settlement at 
the city of Ottawa. 

Till we were comfortably housed, my time 
was much taken up in furnishing ourselves in, 






THE HOUSEKEEPER'S CHAPTER. 67 

and a comparison between the cost of so doino* 
in England and Canada may prove useful. To 
commence with the kitchen. The best kind of 
stove, with all its furniture, costs £6 currency — 
about £5 sterling ; the furniture included being 
pots, pans, and boilers. Chairs and tables suf- 
ficient for the accommodation of a small house- 
hold, £1 10s. ; and all the small sundries, such 
as pails, brooms, and so forth, being made by 
machinery, were sold at prices that surprised me ■ 
allowing another £1 currency for these articles — 
the total amount did not exceed £7 2s. This 
contrasted with my menage at home, which had 
something near i?40 stowed away in it, was 
really almost ridiculous. In the same ratio, I 
might go through each room of our present home. 
I do not say articles of furniture bought at such 
low figures are so good or substantial as pur- 
chased at home, but they serve their purpose ; 
and the tout ensemble of our little establish- 
ment always impressed every one who looked in 
upon us, as pleasant and well arranged. This 
was in a great measure due to the light finish 
given to the furniture, which is, for the most 
part, made of our hardiest Canadian black wal- 
nut, worked and carved by machinery, and very 
highly polished. I allude more particularly to 
the Toronto factory, the owners of which, while 

F 2 



68 THE housekeeper's chapter 

being honoured by a visit from a Governor- 
general, are said to have shewn his lordship a 
black walnut loir, and within twenty or thirty 
minutes to have pointed to a finished chair and 
well planed table, as parts of the ulentical log 
to wliieli his attention had been first drawn. 
The only things which struck me as being un- 
usually dear, and yet inferior, were the carpets 
and crockery-ware, which, together with linen 
and cutlery, arc not manufactured in the colony; 
and any one emigrating had always better bring 
these witli him. 
In giving an estimate of our own expenses, it 

must not he supposed that where there is plenty 
of moi command, furniture and internal 

In. u COrationS, with all the lustre of ] 

glasses and orname iinot he obtained In 

the houses of the wealthy an air of luxury and 

Bumptuousness is more Indulged in, in propori 

tioii to the i and condition of the owner, 

than is th ;tt home. The reader must 1 

in mind he i> following the newly-arrived emu 
grant, with but a Btraitened purse throughout^ 
and tor the benefit of others similarly circunM 
details are entered into. 
We were Ck fixed in" at Last; but I had no 
for idleness. In o tiny a dwellin 
tnts, I ought to have l i en in < 






THE HOUSEKEEPER'S CHAPTER. 69 

The Scotch nurse who had accompanied us proved 
singularly faithful, as far as her charges were 
concern. <l ; but she professed absolute ignorance 
of all culinary work — and more than all, having 
a accustomed in her capacity as " upper 
nurse" to be waited upon, had no notion at 
first of even waiting upon herself; but for all 
these difficulties we made due allowances, know- 
ing for her there must be habits to overcome, as 
well as for ourselvea In the long run, she suited 
us better than most servants thus transplanted 
would have done ; but, as a rule, it is seldom 
advisable to import persons of this class. Ser- 
vants brought up in this colony understand far 
better what is required from them; know the 
ways of the country, and do their work also far 
better. 

I had fallen into another egregious error, viz., 
that of taking a "bush erirl :" it having been re- 
presented to me that Toronto servants were any- 
thing but desirable beings to admit within your 
doors. Thus, two more raw domestics could rarely 
have fallen to the lot of one mortal to teach and 
guide. However, a willing hand and cheerful 
spirits lightened much that was galling ; still it 
was no easy task to turn instructress all at once. 
It was one thing to order your dinner, as in days 
of yore, and quite another business to set to work 



70 THE HOUSEKEEPER'S CHAPTER. 

and cook it for yourself. I was on the horns of 
a dilemma never contemplated. To dismiss the 
bush girl at first off-set was impracticable, as 
she had come from a long distance. To have 
plenty of provisions, and not know how to use 
and cook them was too absurd. I could not 
help being both amused and ashamed of my own 
incapability, so I turned to my different cookery 
guides for information and counsel ; but, to my 
chagrin, they never went to the root of the diffi- 
culty, always presuming that anything so simple 
as knowing how long it took to roast joints ; 
how a potato should be boiled, with its skin off 
or on, or whether they should be put into boiling 
water or cold, and let come to the boil ; or how 
long anything should "simmer" and stew, must 
be facts known to the most ignorant. Un- 
happily, it was really too true that these very 
simple matters were as unknown as Greek to me, 
and my two bright handmaidens were equally 
ignorant, or feigned to be so. Be that as it may, 
they left me to experimentalize, and make my 
own discoveries as best I could. 

To my inexpressible comfort, I have long since 
overcome many of these minor troubles, which 
at that time seemed to me insurmountable, prov- 
ing the truth of the old adage — " Where there's 
a will there's a way." 



THE HOUSEKEEPER'S CHAPTER. 7 1 

As we afterwards made up our minds to take 
a farm, my first experience in my little domicile 
proved of infinite value. I should have been 
overwhelmed altogether had the care of a dairy, 
the mysteries of bread and butter making fallen 
all at once to my lot ; and while I am on this 
subject, I cannot help saying it seems to me 
almost a pity ladies at home should not, when 
they are young, be brought up with a better 
knowledge of practical housekeeping — a know- 
ledge of cookery ; and even the ability to cook 
need not be derogatory to, or interfere with 
accomplishments, or refinement, or intellectual 
attainments in any way. The advantages de- 
rived from a practical knowledge of a housewife's 
duties would, in many cases, it may be hoped, 
be never so fully tested as in my own ; but even 
in the height of prosperity, such knowledge is not 
without its use, for none can tell what the future 
has in store — when adversity may come, or how 
soon their riches may take "wing" and "fly 
away." How sensible does the system in Canada 
appear. Every young lady is brought up, and 
trained to all that in after life may prove useful. 
The opportunities I have had of judging shew 
me, that all who have received an average edu- 
cation play well, sing well, ride well, skate weU 
and dance well; some, too, are well read, and 



72 the housekeeper's chapter. 

good linguists, and yet with all this, they know 
how to compound a good cake, and make better 
home-made bread than many of our best cooks 
in England. When married, they have the knack 
of managing their houses, and with the aid of 
a single servant-girl they have everything around 
them conducive to happiness and comfort, neat- 
ness and order, and do quite as well as an English 
couple, with three servants. Neither are young 
ladies so needlessly shy of their accomplishments 
as at home. 

At a party, when asked to play or sing, there 
is no mauvaise honte; they sit down with a 
quiet self-possession before a large audience, and 
do their best, apparently without any love of 
display, but with an evident pleasure at being 
able to contribute to the enjoyment of others, as 
well as to their own. I do not mean to say, that 
I do not admire the retiring modesty of our 
English maidens, but it is quite painful the ex- 
tent to which some carry their bashfulness. It 
puzzles me to see how girls who have not re- 
ceived one-tenth of the instruction, or had one- 
eighth of the income spent upon the acquisition 
of accomplishments, should, in the aggregate, 
outshine us ; and I can only account for it, by 
the fact, that they are never kept so completely 
in the back-ground as are young girls of the 



THE HOUSEKEEPER'S CHAPTER. 73 

same age with us, and thus being accustomed to 
society, as it were, from their infancy, they gain 
confidence, and are able to take their position, 
without the embarrassment so common, when 
the time for " coming out" has arrived. But to 
return from this digression. 

Toronto, as the metropolis of Upper Canada, 
is full of opportunities of indulging in gaieties, 
visitings, and parties. It has its theatres and 
concerts, which are never passed over by any 
of the great American or European actors and 
vocalists, while " starring w through the province. 
But for all amusement of this nature we had 
small inclination. 

Every day confirmed us in the opinion that a 
life of inactivity in a town ill-suited our habits, 
as well as our pockets. The quantity of fuel we 
had to buy at a dear rate ; the price demanded 
for all we consumed seemed exorbitant ; the 
difficulty of procuring any good fresh vegetables ; 
to which we might add the cost, and inferior 
quality of milk and butter — the former always 
well diluted, and, not unfrequently, sour— were 
drawbacks that daily discomposed us, and made 
us long for a move into the country, where 
plenty might abound without so constant a pull 
on our purse-strings. Add to this the distant 
prospects of any professional, or other sedentary 



74 THE HOUSEKEEPER'S CHAPTER. 

employment, made it still more decisive that an 
agricultural and rural life was best adapted to 
our circumstances, so that henceforth our atten- 
tion was chiefly turned to everything connected 
with them. We began to think of little else, 
and therefore took more than ordinary interest 
in everything bearing on the subject — thus we 
became, in some degree, acquainted with the 
details and management of the extensive nursery 
grounds, and the fruit and flower gardens in the 
adjacent suburbs. 

At the eastern end of the city, there were no 
less than seventy-five acres of nursery-ground 
belonging to one establishment. These were 
chiefly occupied with an excellent and choice 
supply of the hardier fruits and shrubs best 
suited for the orchards and gardens of Canada. 
The unwearied industry and extraordinary enter- 
prise of the proprietor was well worth notice. 
Experiment after experiment must have been 
persevered in, at a great outlay of labour and 
time, before any newly-introduced plant or tree 
could be safely sent forth as acclimatized. At 
the period when we first saw this nursery, 
thousands of plants had perished just as their 
hardy habits were about to be pronounced, after 
five j 7 ears' test, as fairly established. 

The winter, which proved so destructive, had 



THE HOUSEKEEPERS CHAPTEK. 75 

a long spell of mild, warm weather ; the thermo- 
meter scarcely ever falling below five degrees of 
frost at night, and rising by day, in the eye of 
the sun, above sixty degrees. After this spell 
of weather, which perhaps the tenderest British 
evergreen might have stood, on came a cold snap 
on the very verge of spring, with the sap in full 
flow, the buds ready to burst forth, and still some 
forty degrees of frost to endure. Few of the plants 
survived. These kinds of disappointments occur 
frequently. The gardener who attempts to rear 
choice exotics with the aid of stove-heat, or arti- 
ficial heat, although he has a most delicate task 
before him, yet his art is more dependent on his 
own care and vigilance than on the caprice of the 
season. Numerous greenhouses (which were con- 
stantly exciting our admiration) were attached 
to the dwellings of the wealthy ; and in mid- 
winter, in the midst of almost Arctic cold, it 
would not have been difficult to cull a bouquet 
which might vie with any purchased from the 
central arcade of Covent Garden Market. 

It was interesting to note the growth of 
Toronto during the short stay of nine months — 
perhaps our own street gave as good an evidence 
as any. When we took possession there were 
but five houses finished and occupied. The length 
of the street was very nearly a quarter of a mile. 



76 the housekeeper's chapter. 

Before we left, there was not a blank spot on 
one side of the street, which was now complete ; 
and on the other side, there were but very few 
vacancies. No sooner was a house run up than 
it was tenanted. Since we left, a crystal palace 
has been erected — no mean model of that at 
Sj'denham, or Hyde Park ; but somewhat more 
heavy and substantial, as a considerable portion is 
appropriated to the exhibition of cattle, and all 
kinds of agricultural implements and produce, 
while the remainder is dedicated to arts and 
manufactures. The city of Hamilton can also 
boast of its crystal palace, as well as Montreal — 
thus does this young colony possess three per- 
manent structures for the express purpose of 
exhibition. 

We must now pass over the many public 
buildings and institutions of which Toronto 
may be justly proud — such as Asgoode Hall, 
the Normal School, the Public Observatory and 
Hospitals, and last, though not least, its churches, 
although few would hear me out, if I attempted 
to class what is called the " English Cathedral " 
with any cathedral at home. All these are ably 
described in recent publications ; and I should 
be departing from my design by any further 
allusions than those I have already made. 

It was not till the fall of the year that we re- 



THE HOUSEKEEPER'S CHAPTER. 77 

moved to the beautifully situated farm on the 
banks of the St. Lawrence — the scene of our 
attempt to make farming answer, as a means of 
rendering a slender purse as elastic as possible ; 
the result of which will be narrated in a subse- 
quent chapter. 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE CLIMATE OF CANADA : ITS GENERAL EFFECT 
UPON THE EUROPEAN, AS WELL AS ON ANIMAL 
AND VEGETABLE LIFE. 

It has always seemed to me that the main 
object of Canadian authors while treating this 
subject is, to disguise the facts of the extreme 
rigour of its winter cold and the intensity of its 
summer heat My experience, however, confirms 
me that this is impossible without a sacrifice of 
truth, which I by no means wish to make. It is 
marvellous, however, how little injury we receive 
from the extreme vicissitudes we have to endure, 
not only in the great variation between summer 
and winter, but in the wide range of the thermo- 
meter during both seasons. I have known it to 
mark considerably above eighty degrees in the 
shade at mid-day in summer, and to shew six or 
seven degrees of frost before midnight ; and 
again in winter (of which, in this season of 1860 
and 1861, we have had more than one instance), 
it has vacillated between forty degrees above 



THE CLIMATE OF CANADA. 79 

freezing-point, and thirty degrees below zero, or 
about seventy degrees in the course of twenty- 
four hours. And this, not in Lower Canada, 
which is always held out as being so much 
colder and more variable in its climate than 
Upper, but in what some have termed Peninsular 
Canada. 

Another error into which those who describe 
this country somewhat readily fall — if their ob- 
ject be to soften the reality — is, to take the mean 
of temperature as recorded by public observa- 
tories, with great care and accuracy. If this 
average were the true index, we should be at a 
loss to account for our English holly, the laurel, 
the ivy, the laurestinus, and nearly all the ever- 
greens which enliven and cheer our English 
shrubberies, never surviving a single Canadian 
winter ; while we know, in our own country, 
they withstand the severest frosts to which the 
British climate ever exposes them — severely 
" scalded/' though they are, in a severe English 
winter, such as the last. They afford a good 
illustration of the difference between a few days 
of severe cold, and months of severity with an 
occasional descent to twenty degrees and even 
thirty degrees below zero. 

It is during these occasional visits of Arctic 
cold the evergreens perish, while deciduous trees, 



80 THE CLIMATE OF CANADA. 

now leafless and as inanimate, perhaps, as the 
sleeping bear, withstand the utmost cold in per- 
fect security, with but few exceptions, such as 
those trees which are too ready to start into life 
at the first glow of sunshine, as the peach, nee- 
tarine, and apricot. The strong Canadian sun 
by day forces their buds into premature blossoms, 
too sure to be nipped off by the keen frosts at 
sunrise and sunset. The repetition of this pro- 
cess soon destroys the vitality of these tender 
fruit-trees, so that they rarely flourish in any but 
the warmest parts of Western Canada along the 
shores of Lake Erie ; our evergreens, therefore, 
are reduced in number to the various species of 
the pine, the Canadian arbor vitse, balsams, fir, 
red cedar, and hemlocks, and perhaps a few other 
of the same tribe ; while, on the other hand, 
almost all the deciduous trees, from the finest 
forest-tree to the choicest garden-apple or plum, 
flourish and "yield fruit abundantly/' While 
the influence of the winter upon the trees and 
vegetable world is the best proof of the real 
severity of the climate, the heat of summer is 
also faithfully illustrated by its rapid effect in 
forcing into existence every kind of annual, and 
maturing the cereals in the short interval be- 
tween the 25th of May and the 1st of September. 
We have, ourselves, sown wheat on the 28th day 




—.^ icw aoout whose posterity there can be no 
doubt. The Hebrews are descended from Abra- 
ham; and the dark, penetrating eye, and bru- 
nette complexion, are the Jew's distinguishing 
features. But if in the North of Europe there 

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also faithfully illustrated by its rapiu em 
forcing into existence every kind of annual, and 
maturing the cereals in the short interval be- 
tween the 25th of May and the 1st of September. 
We have, ourselves, sown wheat on the 28th day 



. 



THE CLIMATE OF CANADA. 81 

of May, and ground it into flour on the 6tli 
of September, the weight of each bushel being 
upwards of sixty pounds, and the number of 
bushels to each acre exceeding five-and-twenty ; 
thus proving, that although vegetation is forced, 
there is a quality in the climate that counteracts 
all the enervating effect of the hot-bed or green- 
house, to which such apparently unnatural and 
precocious growth must (it would be maintained 
by the uninitiated) ever be assimilated. The 
influence of climate upon our own constitutions 
is so ably described by a learned Canadian lec- 
turer upon the subject, that I cannot do better 
than let him speak for himself : — 

" The influence of climate may be seen in the 
light-haired, fair-skinned Caucasian ; the copper- 
coloured, black, straight-haired, high-cheeked 
North American Indian ; and in the thick-lipped, 
curly-headed negro, and a great variety of inter- 
mediate races. All are descended from a com- 
mon parent — the theories of the pluralists to the 
contrary, notwithstanding. But lest there should 
be any doubt on this matter, I shall instance 
the few about whose posterity there can be no 
doubt. The Hebrews are descended from Abra- 
ham; and the dark, penetrating eye, and bru- 
nette complexion, are the Jew's distinguishing 
features. But if in the North of Europe there 

G 



82 THE CLIMATE OF CANADA. 

are many with very light, sandy hair and light 
complexions, as we go southwards they become 
darker; and in India, they cannot be distin- 
guished in colour from the almost black Hindoo, 
among whom they have dwelt for many cen- 
turies. Here we have the modifying influence of 
climate. Soil and climate do not, therefore, affect 
the national character materially when the in- 
habitants are in a natural state ; and but par- 
tially when man's social condition is more ele- 
vated, for civilization constantly develops latent 
intellectual phenomena, and causes individuals to 
differ from those who preceded them, who were 
placed in circumstances less favourable to mental 
development, and distinctions which were then 
matekial are now intellectual. Man is but a 
link in Nature ; and though his faculties may 
enable him to rise above and battle with her, 
and free himself in some degree from that de- 
pendence, yet he cannot cool in the noon-day sun 
(but by withdrawing himself from its rays), or 
temper the wind : his power is limited. In his 
migrations over the earth's surface he is subject 
to much vicissitude and change, while Nature 
continues to operate by definite and unvarying 
laws, leaving man to modify and mould them 
to himself, but not to alter them. When the 
European quits his native skies, he leaves behind 



THE CLIMATE OF CANADA. 83 

him the air he used to breathe and the soil 
whereon he trod. In Canada he perceives that 
the mornings are clearer, the sky brighter, the 
air in winter colder, and in summer hotter than 
that he has been accustomed to. If he has eyes 
to see, he will perceive that the people are dif- 
ferent. They are paler among the higher classes 
and less ruddy: browner among the out-door 
artisans. All look somewhat drier, so to speak. 
i He cannot fail to observe that the herbage, 
j though not less luxuriant, is different. The 
i feathered tribe are decked in far gaudier colours, 
i but sing less ; indeed, many of the birds, which 
in Britain make the groves resound to the music 
of their carols, here chirp and merely twitter 
away. Viewing these differences around him, he 
may fail to notice that he has taken upon him- 
self a new existence; that new habits must 
spring up within him ; that new ideas — not al- 
ways for the better, perhaps, have taken posses- 
sion of his mind. He thinks and acts differently, 
and at length becomes sensible that a 'change has 
come o'er the spirit of his dream/ He may 
often — does, no doubt, feel many a pang of regret 
that the dear home of his sires and his childhood 
is far, far away ; but he has little time for pen- 
sive thought and melancholy, for his life is now 
a life of ceaseless activity. 

G 2 



84 THE CLIMATE OF CANADA. 

" That there is a change in the European con- 
stitution after a longer or shorter residence, 
every one must admit. The high colour which 
blushes the cheeks and reddens the lips of Euro- 
peans fades somewhat ; the skin is less soft and 
moist ; the hair becomes drier ; and the teeth, 
thanks to our pernicious mode of living,* decay- 
sooner. The fat which contains the muscles and 
gives a roundness to the general outline is ab- 
sorbed, and the muscles become more prominent. 
The muscles of the face stand out in strong re- 
lief; the countenance assumes a more care-worn 
— some think, a more intelligent look. Chubby- 
faced women, and round, fat, oily men, are less 
frequently seen. In a word, the whole system is 
changed. Over exertion in those who are com- 
pelled to work, and excessive idleness in those 
who have nothing to do, often produce the same 
results : premature failing — premature decay. 

" The influence which climate exerts over dis- 
ease, is more marked than that which it exerts 
in a healthy individual. The frequent and 
sudden changes in temperature may not affect 

* The Lecturer does not enter into particulars. I suppose 
him to allude to the extraordinary consumption of trashy 
pastry, " sweeties," as they are called ; bull's-eyes and sugar- 
sticks being as much partaken of by fathers and mothers as by 
new-born babies. Add to this apple-sauce, jams, pumpkin- 
pies, &c, &c. 



THE CLIMATE OF CANADA. 85 

the young and healthy ; but in early infancy, in 
advanced years, or when labouring under rheu- 
matism, or disease of the digestive organs or pul- 
monary organs, the thermometrical and barome- 
trical changes are severely felt. Though vicissi- 
tudes in temperature are frequent in Canada, 
the air is not humid as in Great Britain, and 
humidity, not less than sudden changes, is un- 
favourable to life and health 

Were man in a state of Nature, or deprived of 
the power of protecting himself against external 
influences, he would be less likely to survive 
transplanting than the rest of animated nature* 
If we transplant the common shaggy dog to the 
North, in a few generations he will have lost his 
rugged coat, and be clothed instead with a soft, 
silky, shiny skin. The innocent sheep, when 
transplanted from the inclemency of the North, 
to pant under a vertical sun, will, in a few 
generations, exchange its warm fleece of wool for 
a more convenient coat of hair. These changes 
which Nature silently works for the brute crea- 
tion man must effect for himself. He can pro- 
tect himself better than any animal against 
vicissitudes of temperature, yet he is the most 
sensitive of all animated nature. 

" The climate of Canada must be regarded in 
its twofold aspect of heat and cold. In summer, 



86 THE CLIMATE OF CANADA. 

the alterations take place in the economy which 
teach one to accommodate oneself to altered cir- 
cumstances. The sensation of warmth is experi- 
enced ; but kind, beneficent Nature opens the 
flood-gates of the skin, and bathes the body with 
a fluid, which prevents its temperature rising 
above the healthy standard. The cold of winter 
is severe without being destructive. The sharp, 
clear, bracing cold is far more easily borne than 
the humid, raw air of March and October. There 
is an almost irresistible desire for activity ;* not 
as during the cold, chilly, wet seasons of other 
climes/' 

In the course of this lecture a number of ex- 
periments were detailed, by which the influence 
which this climate had exerted upon Europeans 
had been tested. The result was favourable to 
Canada. They who had become most thoroughly 
acclimatized by the longest residence in the coun- 
try had advanced most in stature, strength, and 
weight. The British Canadian was of the same 
height, weighed five lbs. more, and possessed mus- 
cular strength almost amounting to twenty lbs. 
over his European cousins. The French had ad- 

* This is fully shared in by animals, especially by the horse — 
the latter, unless daily exercised, becomes scarcely manageable, 
and is never so active and full of life and play as during the 
bright, clear days in winter, when sleighing is in perfection. 



THE CLIMATE OF CANADA. 87 

vanced still more — were an inch taller, weighed 
eight lbs. more, and had a superiority of strength 
equal to fifty lbs. The conclusion drawn from 
minute statistics was thus arrived at. 

"Where there is little or no spring; where the 
transition from the cold of winter to the heat of 
summer is sudden ; where the general range of 
the thermometer is from thirty-two degrees above 
to thirty degrees and forty degrees below zero ; 
and where, in summer, the thermometer often 
registers ninety degrees in the shade, the annual 
ratio of mortality is one per cent ; and were it 
not for the vice of intemperance, which exposes 
its victims to frozen limbs in winter, and to 
night air in all seasons, the ratio of mortality 
would be less than one per cent.* 

" No climate can surpass Canada in salubrity. 
She is, in a great measure, exempt from those 

* One of the first lessons the climate teaches, is the absolute 
necessity of temperance. The moderate wine-drinker at home 
may perhaps driak wine in Canada ; but economy will induce 
him to try the cheap ardent spirits of the country. When these 
are indulged in, under exposure to either heat or cold, the 
effect on the brain is immediate, and many have become what 
the lecturer here calls " victims of intemperance," quite uncon- 
sciously. If these lessons are disregarded, as they frequently are, 
reason will soon lose her hold, under the terrible disease of 
" delirium tremens" and the loss of life will soon follow the loss 
of reason. 



88 THE CLIMATE OF CANADA. 

diseases which are indigenous to different parts 
of Europe. Indeed, regarding the diseases which 
afflict humanity elsewhere, we have great reason 
to be thankful to the all-bountiful Controller of 
the Seasons, that, in separating us from the 
great branch of the European family, He has pre- 
pared for us a land, where we may not only lie 
down in peace with all men, but with the assur- 
ance that no pestilential effluvia will enter our 
nostrils ere we awake — that no serpent will 
instil its fatal poison into our veins — that no 
malaria will imprint its morbid impress upon our 
countenance, and that, though He exposes us to 
much heat in summer, and to a temperature in 
winter which parches us till we shrink with cold, 
and cry out, c This is no flattery : ' yet as ' He 
tempers the wind to the shorn lamb/ He, through 
our intelligence, clothes us and keeps us in 
health, comfort, and safety/' 

The Canadians can also claim for their climate 
an entire freedom from every disease, but such as 
is common in Great Britain and Europe. After 
much research the lecturer, from whom I have so 
freely copied, cannot trace any disease as peculiar 
to the country, and unknown in other countries. 
The recent census has brought to light several, 
instances of extraordinary longevity, both among 



THE CLIMATE OF CANADA. 89 

European settlers and their descendants born in 
the province, but chiefly amongst the North Ame- 
rican Indians. 

It has been shewn our winters are very long 
as well as very cold ; and this is just the same in 
1861 as when Cabot first landed. All the theory 
that, as the country became settled, and as the 
forest was cleared, away, the climate would be 
less severe, has proved thoroughly delusive so 
far. In short, on the frontier of Canada we are 
less sheltered, and feel the cutting winds far more 
keenly than our more retired fellow-colonists in 
the bush. We lose our snows earlier than they 
do, but little do we gain on that score ; and 
severe frosts frequently follow a succession of 
thawing days, and then it is that our winter 
wheat and rye is in greatest danger. The in- 
fluence of the lakes may be such as to favour 
vegetation ; but as far as I could judge, it was 
by no means favourable to the constitution. It 
just gave us what it is so desirable to avoid — a 
lingering, wearisome, nondescript season, too cold, 
humid, and raw for enjoyment; during which 
our snow roads were spoilt, and as long as it 
lasted, all communication from village to village 
was exceedingly difficult, as the roads were 
scarcely passable. The farmer, however, could 
use his plough, which, perhaps, had much better 



90 THE CLIMATE OF CANADA. 

have been used in autumn before winter set in. 
In addition to the excellence of all the cereals 
a farmer grows, the fattening qualities of the 
roughest-looking pastures are singular. Sheep 
and oxen turned out with a good range, with 
access to the bush for shelter, and above all, 
access to good water, are found to be quite fat 
by the time winter commences. A great portion 
of this period, as far as the eye can lead you to 
form an opinion, they have nothing but the 
coarsest and dryest-looking herbage to graze 
upon, and oftentimes that would be so withered 
and parched during a summer drought, as to 
appear very " poor feed ;" there is, however, 
much nutriment in the browse and underwood 
of a Canadian bush. And animals will subsist 
upon this for weeks after the snow has first fallen 
without loss of flesh. 

The deer taken during the early winter are 
nearly equal to those fattened for the market at 
home, if we may judge by the excellent venison ; 
but when winter has fairly set in it is difficult to 
maintain these animals in conditio u, and the 
effect of cold is such as to render all feeding with 
roots (as turnips and carrots) of no avail. These 
will prove of infinite use in the spring, and 
should be reserved till that period. Nothing but 
dry stimulating food, as bean meal, oil cake, and 



THE CLIMATE OF CANADA. 91 

the like, will now preserve for your cattle " that 
fat which cushions the muscles and gives a 
roundness to their general outline/' or make 
them " round, fat, and oily/' Our own farming 
experience has shewn that an animal slaughtered 
at the very first onset of winter, will bear proof 
of having been better fed by Nature in the bush, 
than do those upon whom we have attempted to 
improve by a liberal supply of roots, and good 
hay after winter has commenced. Had we sub- 
stituted dry meal for the roots the result would 
have been different. 

I cannot close this subject without adding one 
more quotation from our celebrated transatlantic 
author.* " Here let me say a word in favour of 
those vicissitudes of our climate, which are too 
often made the subject of exclusive repining. If 
they annoy us, they give us one of the most- 
beautiful climates in the world ; they give us the 
brilliant sunshine of the South of Europe, with 
the fresh verdure of the North ; they float our 
summer sky with gorgeous tints of fleecy white- 
ness, and send down cooling showers to refresh 
the panting earth and keep it green. Our sea- 
sons are full of sublimity and beauty. Winter 
with us hath none of its proverbial gloom. It 

* Washington Irving. 



92 THE CLIMATE OF CANADA. 

may have its howling winds and chilling frosts, 
and whirling snow-storms, but it has also its long 
intervals of cloudless sunshine, when the snow- 
clad earth gives redoubled brightness to the day, 
when at night the stars beam with intense lustre, 
or the moon floods the whole landscape with her 
own most limpid radiance. 

"And the joyous outbreak of our spring, burst- 
ing at once into leaf and blossom, redundant 
with vegetation and vociferous with life ; and the 
splendour of summer, its morning voluptuous- 
ness and evening glory ; its airy palaces of sunlit 
clouds piled up in a deep, azure sky ; and its 
gusts of tempests of almost tropical grandeur, 
when the forked lightning and bellowing thunder 
volley from the battlements of heaven, and 
shake the sultry atmosphere ; and the sublime 
melancholy of our autumn, magnificent in its 
decay, withering down the pomp of the wood- 
land country, yet reflecting back from its yellow 
forests the golden serenity of the sky. Truly we 
may well say, ( that in our climate the heavens 
declare the glory of God and the firmament 
sheweth His handiwork. Day unto day uttereth 
speech, and night unto night sheweth know- 
ledge/" 



CHAPTER VIII. 

FARMING IN CANADA: AN OCCUPATION WHEREBY 
THE MOST MAY BE MADE OF A SMALL INCOME ; 
AND CONCLUSION. 

Should any have accompanied me thus far, 
they will conclude that much has not been 
gained by our emigration. I must now endea- 
vour to shew that our peregrinations have not 
been wholly fruitless. It will have been seen 
that life in a Canadian town, although it may be 
the most economical for those who are proof 
against the temptations to needless and frivolous 
expenditure, inseparable from a want of occupa- 
tion, cannot fail to be irksome and monotonous, 
and gradually to exhaust all relish for exertion 
and activity. Having now in some measure 
become acclimatized and enured to the total 
change of scene, which constitutes the difference 
between the Old and the New World, we were 
certainly enabled to venture on farming with 
much greater ease and with far less risk, than if 
we had rushed into that pursuit immediately on 



94 FARMING IN CANADA. 

landing. A stranger to the country who has 
settled down too hastily will ever be perplexed 
by doubts, which his neighbours will be too 
prone to raise in his mind ; he will always be 
assured that he might by patience have paid less 
for his land. He may be wishing he had re- 
mained in the East when he has gone far West, 
or that the frontier had been preferred to the 
backwoods. The look before the leap is never 
more necessary, than in the case of a settler cast- 
ing his lot in a new country. The utmost capital, 
in our individual case, we thought fit to apply to 
our farming was 6^200 sterling, and we appro- 
priated the same sum as an annual income to 
meet current expenses. 

In England this amount of capital would but 
suffice to furnish a cottage, and procure the vari- 
ous sundries necessary to make a house comfort- 
able. How so small a sum could be made to fur- 
nish and stock a farm of 100 acres as well we may 
be reasonably asked to explain. In the first place, 
it is not very generally known that every ,£100 
drawn from Britain "counts" as i?124 to i?125 
in this country — that is to say, money is reckoned 
in Canada by the Halifax currency, instead of 
by its sterling value — so that when a farm is 
said to be worth i?l,000, it will only require 
little more than i?800 sterling to purchase it ; 



FARMING IN CANADA. 95 



or, to put the case more strongly, every 20s. 
British is nearly equal to 25s. Canadian. Every 
j article a family requires is purchased at this cur- 
rency, and so far as the products of the country, 
land, rent, taxes, and wages, affect our income, 
there is nothing deceptive in this change. But 
the economist must learn to limit his expenditure 
to the utmost amongst such things as the colony 
has of its own. Directly we have to purchase 
home manufactures, we pay not only their ster- 
ling value, but a heavy colonial duty in addition 
to the cost of freight and necessary profit for the 
merchant. 

The necessaries, however, that become thus 
costly from importation are gradually being less- 
ened, and colonial manufactures diminish their 
number year by year. Sam Slick can no longer 
say that everything a Canadian or Nova Scotian 
requires, from the swaddling clothes at his birth 
to the nail that is driven into his coffin, comes 
from his mother country. 

We have before said that china-ware and 
cutlery are almost the only articles of furniture 
Canada does not supply. We may add, in con- 
trast, that every kind of farming implement, 
from a garden-hoe to a reaping-machine, is manu- 
factured in the colony. They are much better 
adapted to our wants, and sold at far cheaper 



96 FARMING IN CANADA. 

rates than those at which England is able to 
distribute them to her farmers at home. 

We will now introduce the farm we selected — > 
the rent and taxes we had to pay — the imple- 
ments and live stock we bought — the labour it 
required and the crops we raised — and the result 
after two years' experiment, and prospects for 
the future. 

We advertised for a farm near the railway, 
on the frontier between Montreal and Toronto, 
within an easy distance of a church, a post 
office, and a good market. The numerous an- 
swers our advertisement received convinced us 
that this is a better way to set to work than to 
go to any particular Kegistry or Land Agency 
Office. You are at once put in full possession of 
all the particulars of several properties in dif- 
ferent localities, and can make your own com- 
parison. It is scarcely possible for an agent to 
give an unbiassed opinion, or not be most active 
in his exertions to sell, or let, that property for 
disposal of which he has secured the most com- 
mission. Besides, an advertisement draws out, 
in many cases, an answer from persons who have 
not taken the pains to register their property, or 
thought it advisable to employ an agent. Ad- 
vantageous situations were more highly valued 
than any excess in fertility of soil ; so that farms 



FARMING IN CANADA. 97 

near a town, within a radius of three or four 
miles, are let at about ^40 sterling a year, 
which, if more remote, would not be worth £30 
or £25. Farms so advantageously situated are 
seldom to be purchased, except at prices which 
far exceed their agricultural value. There seems 
to be always a lingering hope, on the part of the 
owners, that some millionaire will "come along/' 
and build a factory, or that he may cut it up 
into a little town ; that a railway will require 
half of it ; at any rate, that there is some latent 
value in the way of a petroleum oil spring, or 
some one of the numerous copper, tin, iron, lead, 
yellow ochre, and other mines and quarries with 
which Canada abounds. The consequence is the- 
price fixed as the value of the property would, at 
the current, and even lowest Canadian rate of 
interest of £6 per cent., produce an annual in- 
come fully double to that which would have to 
be paid as annual rent. With this view, it is 
much cheaper to rent than to purchase. 

We selected a farm within an easy walk of a 
good town, where there were good schools for 
the children, so near indeed, that the house could 
have been let separately. This made the farm 
dearer. No doubt, the land might have been let 
as accommodation land, and thus a greater rent 
secured than we paid for the whole. The land 

H 



98 FARMING IN CANADA. 

consisted of about 100 acres, of which any por- 
tion might be put under the plough ; but we 
had the option of tilling as little or as much as 
we thought prudent. We therefore tried 40 acres 
under tillage and the remainder in pasture. Be- 
sides this, we had liberty to cut fuel for our own 
use. For all this we had to pay i?80 (say £63 
sterling), besides taxes. The value of the house 
itself, in a good town, would have been ^30 
sterling ; this left about the same sum for the 
land and buildings, and this was quite its full 
value for farming purposes. Fortunately, we 
had secured, before we took possession, a limit 
to our taxes ; and every emigrant should follow 
our example in this respect. 

The taxes in Canada have hitherto been so 
trifling in amount that they have been treated 
as merely nominal. Such, however, has been the 
rapid progress of this colony, that she has jumped, 
as it were, all at once into the maturity of an old 
country — indeed, is in a more advanced condition 
than was England, in many respects, before her 
railways had come into general operation. It seems 
unreasonable to expect that she could have taken 
this great jump without some corresponding strain 
upon her resources, great and inexhaustible as 
they may prove. Old settlers are the best guide 
to that information, which enables you to make 



FARMING IN CANADA. 99 

a comparison between Canada as she is, and 
Canada as she was nearly ten years ago. Then, 
her taxes were light and nominal ; now, they 
are felt and becoming serious. 

But what has she gained? First and fore- 
most, she has secured the Americans as her best 
customers, and this, conjointly with the recipro- 
city now subsisting between all Canadian and 
American trading, is the effect of her railways. 
As an illustration, horses which could not be sold 
for a remunerative price, except at long credit, 
are now eagerly sought for, where the breed is 
superior, and large prices are paid in cash, and 
so in a fully equal degree, wherever the stock of 
sheep or cattle is superior, is their value appre- 
ciated. A market for all her produce is secured 
throughout the whole year, and not limited to 
the season of open navigation, although that 
season will ever prove the most favourable. The 
winter market must be of infinite advantage, 
and gradually improve. Machinery can be trans- 
ported throughout the entire province. Building 
materials are, by facilities of transit, not only 
lessened in price, but can be obtained in quan- 
tity, and not by mere driblets, as when the 
sleigh was the only mode of carriage. Houses 
can be built, and every kind of permanent im- 
provement can be effected at less cost, and in 
LofC, h2 



100 FARMING IN CANADA. 

one-third less time. Land has risen in value 
fully fifty per cent, on the frontier, and farms 
lately inaccessible now command as high a price 
as did the most eligibly situated ten years ago. 

In order to procure all these advantages, seve- 
ral municipalities have, perhaps, overburthened 
themselves with a debenture debt. These deben- 
tures are now falling due, and can only be met 
by increased taxation. They are, in fact, a latent 
mortgage upon all the land included in the mu- 
nicipality which has issued them ; such, perhaps, 
as the owners, if selling, are not bound to dis- 
close. Many a hasty purchaser is now feeling 
the burthen of this unexpected demand upon his 
resources in the way of increased taxation. 
Forewarned, he might have been forearmed, 
and have secured a corresponding reduction in 
his purchase-money or rent, as the case may be. 
It may, therefore, prove useful to all emigrants 
to remind them, that taxes do exist and are on 
the increase. The amount of debenture debt due 
from each municipality can readily be ascer- 
tained, and the dates when these debts become 
payable. As this directly affects the value of the 
land, no purchase should be closed or lease com- 
pleted, before these burthens have been fully 
allowed for, in estimating the annual or perma- 
nent value of any property. In our case, we 



FAKMING IN CANADA. 101 

have shewn that we were protected by a limit in 
our lease ; but for this, our annual payment for 
the property we occupy would be from £8 to £14* 
more than is the case at present. 

The first essential before a farm is entered 
upon is, to get a good man. The quality of the 
man will a great deal depend upon the employer. 
Excellence in every point cannot be expected, 
and until an employer can be found who can set 
up himself as a living proof to the contrary, we 
shall have to make the best of those we find ready 
to work; and the only way to do so is, to let them 
see our better parts more prominently than our 
failings. There is nothing like taking a reason- 
able share of work upon yourself in order to 
get your own proper share from those you em- 
ploy. This tells with double force in a colony 
where by far the greater number of employers 
are men of the same stamp and the same habits, 
and have been at some time of their life in no 
better condition than those they employ. Hence 
the term, " help/' is often used where that of ser- 
vant is really meant; while the word, "master/" 
is almost struck out of the American vocabulary, 
and that of "boss" used in its stead. Having 
made allowance for the feelings of independence 
which all, who have been long in a colony gradu- 
ally obtain, and sometimes permit to ooze out in 



102 FARMING IN CANADA. 

the form of unseemly manners, we have invariably 
found our consideration has been amply rewarded, 
and after a little intercourse have secured as much 
work done, with as hearty good will, as the most 
submissive-mannered peasant at home ever re- 
turned to his employer. It is very hazardous to 
import servants from England ; their motive for 
leaving their own country is, of course, to better 
themselves. They will begin to doubt whether 
they had not better have stayed where they 
were. The climate will surprise them. Kumour 
will be busy, and they will imagine their wages 
insufficient ; in short, they are generally discon- 
tented, and servants, like masters, must become 
acclimatized, and have learnt the ways of the 
country before their services can equal those 
already acquainted with them ; besides, they are 
very apt to ridicule and sneer at their fellow- 
workmen, as if they must be superior ; and no 
inconsiderable loss of time, and a good deal of 
unproductive labour, can be easily traced to these 
feelings of jealousy and ignorant prejudice. 

While on the subject of workmen, an illustra- 
tion of the difference between a Canadian and a 
raw, Old Countryman, may be amusing and a 
warning to others who may have passed the 
meridian of life in their native land, and are in 
receipt of good wages at home to remain there, 



FARMING IN CANADA. 103 

unless they have some relatives or friends in this 
country to help them on after their arrival. In 
the present instance, the poor man of whom I am 
about to speak, was as illiterate and ignorant an 
Englishman as could probably be found ; he had 
been induced to cross the Atlantic after listening 
to the representations of some emigration lec- 
turer, and all he deemed essential towards bet- 
tering his condition, was forthwith to quit his 
native soil. He walked from a village not twelve 
miles distant from London to Gravesend, and 
there got on board the first trader he saw bound 
for New York. He arrived in that city in Novem- 
ber, in total ignorance that the climate was in 
any degree colder than in England, and had 
come provided with nothing more than ordinary 
clothing ; of course, he shared the fate of many 
of his class, and got cheated out of what little 
cash he had left before leaving the city. Wan- 
dering about and getting his food, in return for 
work, he was advised to go to " Kennedy/' as he 
pronounced it, as the only place fit for an English- 
man. He was evidently not " acute " enough for 
a Yankee. He walked five hundred miles before 
reaching the banks of the St. Lawrence, and 
spent his last shilling as his fare across the ferry 
to the Canadian side. He arrived at our door 
hungry, not only foot-sore, but nearly foot-frozen, 



104 FARMING IN CANADA. 

on Christmas Eve, during a severe snowstorm.* 
We gladly took him in, and agreed to keep him 
on trial. Though grateful to us, and glad to get 
amongst any that still savoured so strongly as 
ourselves of the " Old Country/' he, nevertheless, 
was discontented. He could not bring himself 
to understand how it was that he, who could 
earn his 16s. a-week, and was regarded as a good 
workman, and who could besides " grub a Sussex 
shaw," and use the bill-hook against any man in 
the parish, could not earn wages with the Cana- 
dian axe. The fault, of course, was in the tool 
and not in him. He never could cut a quarter 
of a cord in a day, and yet an experienced chop- 
per gets through a cord and a half per day with 
comparative ease. Two good choppers will walk 
up to the finest specimen of a pine ever beheld, 
such as the Old Country eye would think could 
only be felled with a cross-cut saw; in less than 
ten minutes it will lie prostrate on the ground. 
The temper and edge requisite for the axe is such, 
that the woodsman is as careful over it as he is 
of his razor, and so treasures it up, that he sleeps 
with it under his pillow to prevent the frost 
from rendering it brittle. 

We took possession in the spring, and com- 
menced with one man and two horses. The 
wages are usually in Upper Canada i?30 cur- 



FARMING IN CANADA. 105 

rency a -year, and board The plough can 
rarely enter the ground before the second week 
in April. In some seasons a little ploughing 
may be done in the last week in March. 
All the sowing, besides the planting of Indian 
corn and potatoes, must be finished before the 
first week in June is over — perhaps, I ought 
to say, before the end of May. There are, there- 
fore, but seven short weeks ; and, upon an ave- 
rage, only five days, at the most, can be calculated 
as working days, as frequent interruptions to 
spring work from rain must be expected. The 
ploughing is invariably done with two horses 
harnessed abreast and driven by reins, and from 
one acre to one acre and a half, according to the 
quality of the soil, is considered a day's work. 
On a heavy soil you are likely to find four acres 
and a half will have occupied a week (when loss 
of time is allowed for). To perform this spring 
work, we had to buy two stiff-set horses, and as 
we only gave something like ^35 for the two, 
they were rather under-size ; it would take i?50 
to buy two thoroughly good horses of full 
height. The plough and the harness cost us 
another £6 ; a waggon, ^15 ; and then came 
harrows, rollers, and other implements, so that 
nearly half our available capital was at once 
required before our spring work was fairly over. 



106 FARMING IN CANADA. 

We managed to make the remaining i?100 
supply us with every necessary implement, and 
to stock our farm with three cows and about 
twenty sheep, and several head of young cattle. 
The price of a cow in spring, on the point of 
having a calf, is from £4* to £6, and sheep are 
worth from 2 dollars to 5 dollars (10s. to 25s.), 
according to age and size. 

So little could be done the first year of occu- 
pation, that the return from the farm was scarcely 
sufficient to supply our family with all the bread, 
butter, eggs, pork, mutton, and beef we required 
for use. But these are not the only products of 
a Canadian farm which might be introduced. 
Butchers and bakers are, it is true, the first on 
the list of tradespeople whose bills ought never 
to be heard of ; but the grocer, and the tallow- 
chandler, and even the soap-boiler may all be 
interfered with. 

The maple sugar-bush is a natural source of 
profit that often proves of infinite service, as it 
may be made to supply all the sugar requisite for 
the year, for a large family's consumption — by 
no means a small item of cost where tea and 
coffee take the place of beer and spirits, and are 
used at every meal ; but it often provides a 
goodly suplus for sale. The sap of the maple is 
ready to flow immediately the frost begins to 



FAKMING IN CANADA. 107 

leave us, in March and April. A good bush of 
large-sized trees will furnish hundreds of pounds 
of good sugar, while the more refined maple- 
syrup is a real dainty relished by children, and 
a useful adjunct to the housewife's stores. Then, 
during the winter, as the Canadian farmer is his 
own butcher, his mutton and beef find him with 
plenty of raw material for candle-making, and 
the candle-mould is always in requisition at that 
season. Nor are the ashes from his constant fires 
to be wasted, but turned to an economical ac- 
count in the manufacture of soap, which, together 
with candles, is generally part of our home pro- 
ductions. Potash might be included as a very 
valuable item on our list ; but as this more pro- 
perly belongs to the wild, uncultivated forest- 
land, while undergoing the process of clearance, 
it can scarcely be introduced as an article which 
a farmer on the well cleared frontier has for 
disposal. 

We had, evidently, entered too late on our 
farm to secure a large return the first season, we 
therefore determined to try what the second year 
would do, and kept the plough as busy as we 
could all the autumn, so that when spring came 
round, there should be little to do, but to sow 
and to harrow. We managed, by hard work, to 



108 FARMING IN CANADA. 

get forty acres well ploughed before the winter 
set in. We did not venture upon fall wheat, as 
that had, till the last season, become quite a pre- 
carious crop. 

When spring returned, we found the ploughed 
land thoroughly well pulverized by frost, so that 
all that was requisite was the use of the Ame- 
rican or " Share's" harrow. This is a most effec- 
tive implement, almost equilateral and triangular. 
Two horses can readily draw it, and its numerous 
inverted teeth, or coulters, slice every furrow 
into four ; and after thrice harrowing with this 
instrument, we made the best seed-bed we ever 
saw on a farm. The four fields of forty acres 
looked almost like a garden ; and we divided them 
into fifteen acres of spring Fife wheat, fifteen acres 
of Canadian field peas, six of oats, two of potatoes, 
and two of barley. 

Every one of these crops seemed to try and 
out-do the other, and to say which was the best 
would perhaps be difficult. Probably, the Cheva- 
lier barley deserved the palm. The harvesting 
of these crops could not, of course, be got through 
by one, or even two men. Here an implement 
manufacturer came to our rescue ; and our wheat 
and oat crop was the scene of trial for what had 
been returned to him as a defective reaper. The 



FARMING IN CANADA. 109 

grain was much laid, owing to the heavy rains ; 
but the reaper performed admirably, and the 
owner kindly let us have the use of it for the 
whole harvest. It was difficult, with our small 
staff (increased though it was to five men), to 
bind fast enough for the cutting of this machine, 
and to Carry and stack in the barn, so as not to 
have too much grain cut at one time. 

Here I must notice a great and general defect 
in Canadian farming, and that is in the art of 
securing the grain in mows or stacks, as well as 
hay, after the large barns are all filled. Occa- 
sionally, as during the autumn of 1860, deluging 
rains fall, which would severely test the best 
thatching in the world — of which, perhaps, our 
native county of Devon generally affords the best 
specimens. The straw here used for thatching 
has all been passed through the machine, and is 
therefore ill fitted for thatching purposes. Few 
farmers ever reserve any hand-threshed straw, 
and comb it into reed, as at home, but those 
few are amply rewarded. 

Our loss from damaged grain, on this head, 
must have been exceedingly great ; but every 
neighbour lost fully as much. The quantity of 
grain rendered unmarketable under this system, 
in any productive year, which is generally after 
a wet season, must be prodigious. 



110 FAEMING IN CANADA. 

Notwithstanding this loss, we managed to thresh 
out for market the following produce — from 

15 acres of spring wheat... 320 bushels. 

15 acres of Canadian peas... 420 „ 

6 acres of oats 240 99 

2 acres of barley 94 „ 

The value of this grain averaged as follows — 
Wheat, 90 cents (4s. 6cZ.) per bushel of 60 lbs. ; 
peas, 55 cents (2s. 9d.) per bushel of same weight ; 
barley, 60 cents (3s.) per bushel of 56 lbs. ; oats, 
22 cents (Is. Id.) per bushel of 34 lbs. We have 
specified the respective weight of each kind by 
bushel, because all Canadian grain is sold by 
weight, and not by measure. The two acres of 
potatoes yielded about 240 bushels, very slightly 
injured by the potato disease, which of late has 
but little affected this crop. These averaged in 
value, 25 cents (Is. 3d) per bushel. Thus is the 
produce of our forty acres accounted for. For 
remaining produce, we must turn to the dairy of 
three cows, to several pigs, and our twenty sheep, 
now increased to thirty-nine, including lambs ; 
and to the poultry, turkeys, chickens, and ducks. 

The most important item of profit would ap- 
pear to have been derived from the pigs. Where- 
ever a large quantity of grain is grown a cor- 
responding stock of pigs should be kept. A 



FARMING IN CANADA. Ill 

small pig, purchased in early spring — say six 
weeks old — will cost one dollar (5s.) His keep 
during the summer is supplied from the waste 
of the house and the rough parterres. After 
harvest he is turned into the " errish/' and there 
he gains so much in condition, that he requires 
to be shut up little more than three weeks to 
make him from 150 lbs. to 200 lbs. in weight by 
the middle of November. Pork is then generally 
worth five dollars per 1 00 lbs., at the least ; so that 
fifteen pigs, which our farm could have easily car- 
ried, would have brought in at 200 lbs. weight 
each, the goodly sum of 150 dollars, or £32 10s. ; 
and had we purchased them in the spring, would 
have cost us onlv 15 dollars, or £3 15s. 

Butter is usually worth from 8d. to lOd per lb., 
and a good nurtured cow in fair pasture, with 
access to water, so that she may slake her thirst 
as often as she feels inclined during the heat of 
summer, will produce about seven lbs. per week. 
Fowls are most essential for the supply of eggs 
as well as chickens during summer ; and in early 
spring a good stock of laying hens will prove 
very profitable, and the large surplus of eggs 
they afford is readily saleable at 9d. to Is. per 
dozen. Turkeys are kept at very little expense 
during summer, as they live entirely upon insects 
and grasshoppers, and grass-seeds. I do not 



112 FARMING IN CANADA. 

think they injure the grain to any extent — cer- 
tainly no more than partridges or pheasants do ; 
and as we have nothing of that kind (except the 
tree-partridge, or grouse, in the bush), to live in 
our crops, or to be shot in September or October, 
turkeys may be kept to supply their place. They 
will do for themselves until the frost and snow 
set in, then a general wholesale slaughter ensues, 
as their keep in winter would be too expensive. 
All superfluous ducks, geese, and fowls share the 
same fate at this period, and are either marketed 
or kept for home consumption. 

The severe winter cold is here turned to an 
economical account, as all this vast amount of 
poultry would be wasted but for the plan adopted 
of exposing it, and all kinds of meat and fish to 
the frost, or burying it in snow, which is by 
many preferred. All can be preserved in this 
manner in excellent condition for three months, 
and ev^n as seasons vary, for four. This system, 
of course, greatly reduces the prices, so that a 
large turkey can be bought for 2s. English, or 3s. 
at the highest ; fowls for 6d. a-piece, and geese 
for Is. 6d. A ready sale for sheep is always 
found in the home-market, especially for lambs 
during the summer months ; and many a lamb is 
then sold for about the same money as the wool 
on his back would be worth in the ensuing spring. 



FARMING IN CANADA. 113 

They thrive well, although they consume little 
«ise than the pea straw (which they doat upon, 
and which other cattle care little about), during 
winter, and live upon the pastures during sum- 
mer, so that they are the most profitable of any 
kind of stock ; their wool certainly pays for their 
keep, and the continued addition to the flock 
from lambs every spring, more than replaces any 
that may have been required for market or con- 
sumption. 

I have now gone through almost all the sources 
of profit from a Canadian farm, exclusive of those 
which belong, perhaps, to the garden, as fruit 
and vegetables — including the melons, tomatoes, 
cucumber, squash, peppers or capsicum, and early 
potatoes ; for about six weeks in the year, from 
20s. to 40& per we£k may be easily secured by 
due attention from sales of garden produce, be- 
sides an ample supply for the house ; while a 
good-sized orchard well- stocked with choice fruit 
is an invaluable appendage to every farm. We 
have on one occasion made the crop of an orchard 
of about one hundred and thirty trees in full- 
bearing worth i?42. The luscious water-core, 
richly streaked St. Lawrence, and peach-flavoured 
Frameuse or Snow-apple, were among the choicest 
of our fruits, to which should be added some 
splendid specimens of cooking-apples both for 

I 



114 FARMING IN CANADA. 

size, colour, and complexion. The basket of this 
fruit exhibited at Toronto, with but few addi- 
tions from neighbouring orchards, gained the first 
prize, and ultimately found its way to the table 
of Government House. Unhappily we have no 
longer the benefits of this delightful orchard, 
which, when seen in spring, when every tree was 
a mass of beauteous blossom, attracted the ad- 
miration of all the passengers of the numerous 
St. Lawrence steamers ; but when viewed in 
autumn was so enticing from its display of lus- 
cious fruits, that the temptation proved irresist- 
ible, and its owners were far from being the only 
persons who rejoiced in its fecundity. 

The heavy cost of labour must now be taken 
into account, otherwise a Canadian farm will be 
made to appear an El Dorado ; such, however, is 
the weight of this item, that on placing profit 
and loss on the scales, loss will inevitably prove 
the heaviest, unless the utmost caution be used. 

In the first "place, the family must be supplied 
from the farm in such a way that nothing may 
be bought which the farm can produce ; the 
home-market will always be the best, and un- 
bought supplies are always the best tasted. 
Next, as far as possible, something corresponding 
with the truck system in the payment of wages 
must be adopted. A system, however, which, 



FARMING IN CANADA. 115 

instead of being unfair (as in too many dis 
tricts in England), may be made perfectly fair. 
Straw, grain — anything a workman may re- 
quire, should be given in preference to cash. 
Where the rate of wages is so good as it is in 
Canada, it is well-known that this is the only 
way the generality of farmers can afford to em- 
ploy labourers. Instead, however, of any agree- 
ment that wheat should be taken at 8s. a bushel, 
when it is only worth 5s. in the market (a 
custom, I believe, still prevalent in the North of 
Devon), everything is taken at the market price. 
A man with a family to maintain would not be 
ready " to hire n for twelve months and to give 
up the whole of his time, and attend to horses 
and live stock on the Sunday, unless he was paid 
perhaps at the rate of £1 5s. sterling per week 
all the year round. But if the farmer can give 
him half an acre of land, can keep a cow for him 
in summer and winter, — can provide him with 
fuel (no trifle in Canada when fuel has to be 
bought, but not felt by the farmer who reserves 
a bush for the purpose), and find him a house to 
live in rent free, he would consider himself well 
paid if he had 15s. per week. So, again, the 
farmer with an ample store of provisions — as 
pork, potatoes, &c, can afford to find meals for 
his extra men during the busy time of harvest, 

I 2 



116 FAKMING IN CANADA. 

and by so doing he lias to pay nearly a third less 
cash for wages. Besides this gain in cash, he 
gains the additional advantage of securing a 
well-fed workman, in the place of one who may 
have denied himself requisite food, in order to 
indulge in liquor. 

And lastly, a farm must be supplied with all 
" the labour and time-saving machines " that 
means will permit. We have already noticed 
the reaper and mowing-machine ; these are now 
advertised in the country for sale at i?20 cur- 
rency, and probably the most trustworthy imple- 
ment makers are not charging more tl\an £25 v 
These are not essentials, yetthosewho possess them 
maintain they last for ten years, and save their 
prime cost in two. The American horse-rake isi 
a most useful, ingenious, and economical machine, 
as patented in Canada West ; it is made almost 
entirely of wood — consisting of a frame some 
twelve feet in width, mounted on wheels, with 
shafts; to this frame are attached twenty-four 
teeth, three feet or so in length, made of the 
hardest and toughest ash, strung upon an iron 
rod, so as to rise over any obstruction, and fall 
again immediately. The driver stands on the 
platform, and by the aid of a lever, on which he 
merely plants his foot and leans his weight, he 
Raises the teeth off the ground^ and they imme- 



FARMING IN CANADA. 117 

diately drop the hay or grain, whenever he does 
so. About eight acres can be gone over with 
this rake in about half a day. After this, the 
land is so clean, that when the hay waggon has 
left the field no litter is visible anywhere. 

This machine alone saves the labour of three 
or four hands in haying time, and does about as 
much work in one hour as they would in two, with 
no labour to the man who directs it ; and it is quite 
light work for the horse that draws it. This 
really useful implement, so little known to fame, 
and, for some unaccountable reason, so kept out 
of the market (although all who have tried it 
prefer it to any other), is made, and mounted on 
well tired wheels, with shafts complete, for £4* 
sterling. 

The next machine best adapted for a moderate- 
sized farm, where the object is to thresh out for 
tome consumption, or for a gradual market, is 
the two-horse power threshing-machine. This is 
worked by a horse-treadmill. Our horses had 
worked on it without receiving the slightest- 
injury, and they mount the mill as readily as 
they would back into a waggon. The power 
thus obtained is sufficient to work a cylinder, 
capable of threshing out from one hundred to 
one hundred and fifty bushels of oats per day. 
One man is wanted to feed the cylinder, another 



118 FAEMING IN CANADA. 

to untie the bundles of grain, and a boy to throw 
away the straw, which is separated from the 
chaff, by means of a straw-carrier, kept in motion 
by the same power that works the cylinder. In 
about an hour your two horses will have enabled 
you, by means of this treader, to thresh out quite 
as many bushels as it may be convenient to clean 
up without extra hands. It would be easy at 
any time to go into the barn at eight in the 
morning, and thresh, clean, and market thirty 
bushels of grain before half the day was lost, and 
not an extra man need have been about your 
premises. Whereas, when the hired machine is 
in requisition, you must find four horses, and 
the owner of the machine four horses, and it re- 
quires from ten to fifteen hands, according to the 
conveniences of your barns and yards, to keep 
pace with the machine. The owner is paid in 
proportion to the number of bushels threshed, 
so that his object is to clear out the barns as 
soon as it can possibly be done. It is next to 
impossible to prevent mixture of grain under 
these circumstances ; and whether you have hit 
the right time or the wrong, you are obliged to 
market, as it is seldom granaries sufficiently 
large to hold all the grain grown, are to be found 
on any farm. 

The threshing for three or four days will cost 



FAKMING m CANADA. 119 

from £3 to £4*, independently of board, and 
extra hire of men and horses. The economy and 
convenience of these little tread-machines is such 
that nothing but prejudice could prevent them 
being used in England, if introduced. Anything 
better calculated for small holdings, or less dan- 
gerous, less complicated, and more effective, it is 
difficult to conceive. The cost of this implement 
is about ^35 sterling ; and I believe it will last 
good for eight or ten years, and pay for its cost, 
certainly, in two years and a half. 

The result of our second year proved satisfac- 
tory. The amount realised by the sale of the 
produce enumerated enabled us to provide all the 
costly implements which have been described, 
and to add a third horse to the live stock. 
During the last two years our dealings with 
tradespeople have considerably lessened. Our 
butcher has lost a regular, if not a large customer, 
for it is very seldom we have occasion to trouble 
his stall. In like manner our bread has been 
provided entirely by the farm ; while a daily 
and varied bill of fare from an amply supplied 
poultry-yard and garden, is by no means an in- 
significant item on the credit side of our farm ac- 
count. We have no desire to enter an imaginary 
doctor's bill on the credit side of our account, as 
if a family, once settled on a farm, never could 



120 FARMING IN CANADA. 

require medical aid, and that all settled else- 
where were never healthy. If we have no actual 
cash to produce as proofs of our profits, still we 
can turn to the now somewhat numerous inmates 
of our pigstyes, to an increased flock of sheep 
much improved in breed — to the young herd of 
cattle imperceptibly gathered round us, as well 
as to a very promising young colt, destined to 
complete another team, and double the horse- 
power with which we commenced. To these we 
may add the prospect of another bounteous har- 
vest before us, if a long spell of steady winter, 
accompanied with an unusual depth of snow, 
maintain its character as the fore-runner of an 
abundant summer. We may add, too, that we 
have the means of sowing all the ground we can 
cultivate with unbought and home-saved seed, 
and the use of the labour-saving implements to 
reap, rake, and thresh our crops. 

And thus we close a somewhat long list of ad- 
vantages, which we hope may enable us to prove 
that rural occupation in Canada is not merely 
healthful and invigorating, but may be made to, 
give a wider scope to a limited income, than 
would be the case if attempted in the mother- 
countly. Our third year also holds out so fair a 
promise of actual profit, that we can write con- 
fidently in favour of the farming resources of 



FARMING IN CANADA. 121 

Canada, and shew " Why we live in it, and Why 
we like it/' In short, we live under the daily 
conviction that in no way could we have im- 
proved our circumstances, had we remained 
buried in the backwoods, as was so nearly our 
fate. If emigration must be encountered there 
is nothing in the climate, or social condition of 
the cleared districts of Canada, at all unbearable. 
If this colony does not offer the fairest field for 
making a rapid fortune, she does, nevertheless, 
afford opportunities for making a little go a long 
way ; and, when we bear in mind the regularity 
with which her own, as well as the Cunard 
steamers cross the Atlantic, within eleven days, 
we feel week after week, as each successive mail 
brings us tidings from home bearing the dates, 
as it were but of yesterday, how much nearer 
she is to England than any other colony ; and 
we believe that, with all her faults and failings, 
the British emigrant may " go farther/' and 
" fare worse/' 



THE END. 



LONDON: 

HUTCHINGS AND COPE, PRINTERS. 

63, SNOW HILL, E.C 



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